Factory Fires

     Today in class we were given words to choose from and to search through a newspaper archive about the topic during the progressive period(1880-1925). I discovered that during this period in time factory fires were a ver common event, here were 3,985,255 matches. The first article that I clicked on was talking about the amount of fires and the damage done. There were 217 fires in Kansas during the month of July, that resulted in $224,272 worth of damage. It was concluded that factory fires were the "most disastrous" because they resulted in a loss of $76,812, which was the highest amount of any type of fire (Coffeyville Journal 10 Aug 1917).
       I began my research with looking up the factory fire in American history, and found information on the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory fire. History. com summarized it as, "On March 25, 1911, the Triangle Shirtwaist Company factory in New York City burned, killing 145 workers. It is remembered as one of the most infamous incidents in American industrial history, as the deaths were largely preventable–most of the victims died as a result of neglected safety features and locked doors within the factory building. The tragedy brought widespread attention to the dangerous sweatshop conditions of factories, and led to the development of a series of laws and regulations that better protected the safety of workers." Then, it stated that in response to this disaster, the Sullivan-Hoey Fire Prevention Law was passed that October. So I went back into the archive and searched the law. 
     As it turns out, the people did not seem to approve. Although many people were dying and they could all agree that they were the most destructive, they saw it as unnecessary. People featured in the newspaper described the Sullivan-Hoey Fire Prevention Law as an "unnecessary expense" and that it would only "interfere with the rights of property owners with building operations"(Brooklyn Daily Eagle 29 Nov 1911). So although people recognized the problem of factory fires, they did not want to change their ways. Obviously although the law passed, factory fires were still very relevant to the time being. I found an article from a 1916 newspaper with the big heading, "Look out for Fires" which reviewed all of the multiple fires from just that week and the damage, and then warned people to be careful because of the dry weather. This all goes to show that fires remained a major issue for a long time because people continued not to do anything about safety regulations and seemed too lazy to change their ways.