PREVENTION

Historical Fire That Influenced Fire Codes

OurLadyoftheAngelsSchool

On Monday, December 1, 1958, a re broke out at Our Lady of the Angels School in Chicago, Illinois, shortly before classes were dismissed for the day The re originated in the basement near the foot of a stairway

The elementary school was operated by the Archdiocese of Chicago and had an enrollment of approximately 1600 students A total of 92 pupils and three nuns ultimately died when smoke, heat, re, and toxic gases cut off their normal means of egress through corridors and stairways. Many more were injured when they jumped from second-oor windows, which, because the building had a raised basement, were nearly as high as a third oor would be on level ground (c. 25 ft.).

The disaster was the headline story in American, Canadian, and European newspapers. Pope John XXIII sent his condolences from the Vatican in Rome. The severity of the re shocked the nation and surprised educational administrators of both public and private schools The disaster led to signicant improvements in standards for school design and re safety codes.

The anniversary of this event every year reminds me why we do what we do in Fire Prevention.

FIRE CODE ANSWER: Fire hydrants in the City of Chandler can only be painted 3 different colors as they all have a meaning behind the color Yellow: This means that it is a public hydrant and will be maintained by the City of Chandler Yellow with Black Bonnet: This is a private hydrant and is required to be tested on an annual basis by the owner of the hydrant. Red: These hydrants are normally private hydrants and are connected into the re line. Which means when you connect to the FDC you would pumping into the line that will boost the sprinkler system and also all of the red hydrants on site. In this case, you would want your water supply to come from a yellow or yellow and black hydrant when possible for the connection to the FDC