Beyond the Flames — Nightclubs Were Source of Many Fires

As our history lesson rolls on, this week leads us to some of the most troubling of fires, mostly because the amount of lives lost in them could have been considerably less had the fire codes of the time be followed. Nightclubs have been among the most popular locations to send an evening in the United States since the times of the Roaring 20’s, but they’ve also been the source of many fires and subsequent deaths.
Boston was in low spirits on Nov. 28, 1942. Not only was the city in the midst of World War II, but also just two weeks earlier, the city’s fire department had lost six firefighters to a building collapse. In addition, the city’s college football team, Boston College, which had been undefeated and Sugar Bowl bound, suffered a dismal blowout loss earlier that day and saw their bowl dreams go out the window.
So on a Saturday night to forget, over 1,000 patrons packed the Cocoanut Grove Nightclub in Boston’s Bay Village. The building was a speak-easy during the times of United States prohibition, and was converted into a nightclub with a number of separate private lounges, bars, and dancing areas. The building had a tropical theme to it, with countless numbers of fake palm trees, cloth drapes, and lights galore, all full of flammable materials.
At approximately 10:15 p.m., a fire ignited in the ceiling of the lower level of the building, and within a matter of minutes, had raced up the stairwell to the main level, igniting furniture, decorations, and patrons’ hair and clothing in its path. When it reached the main ballroom and dancing floor, a “flashover” occurred, and the fire consumed a gaseous buildup resulting in a fireball of flames and heat consuming the area.
Patrons had begun evacuating the building immediately, but as the fire grew, so did the panic level. Soon most of the club’s patrons were stampeding for the main entrance in an attempt to escape the flames. Complicating the situation, the main entrance was a single revolving door, which quickly became stationary as panicked patrons jammed bodies in it trying to exit.
To complicate matters, the nightclub was in great violation of the city’s fire codes at the time. Not only were there highly flammable furnishing in the nightclub, the maximum capacity listed for the club by the city was 460. Although the official amount of patron at the time of the fire will forever remain unknown it is certain there were at least 1000 people in the building at the time. In addition, several of the nightclub’s emergency exits and windows had either been boarded up or locked to prevent patrons from leaving without paying.
Of the doors that were unlocked, all but the revolving door opened inward and was blocked almost immediately by the rushing crowds attempting to exit. The fire department was forced to dismantle the revolving door in order to make entrance to the building, and by the time the patrons were evacuated and the fire brought under control, 492 of the patrons had either perished inside the building as a results of the heat and smoke inhalation, had escaped the building and collapsed outside to their deaths, or had died at the hospital.
The Coconut Grove fire remains the deadliest nightclub fire in United States history, and is second only to the 1903 Iroquois Theater fire in Chicago as the deadliest single-building fire in the nation’s history.
Following the fire, cities across the country tightened their fire code laws and enforcement. Many states soon initiated laws that mandated the installation of at least one outward-opening door adjacent to every revolving door, or for that revolving door to become collapsible into itself to form a clear path of exit. A direct correlation from the fire is the institution of municipal code enforcers, whose sole purpose is to ensure the enforcement of the fire and building codes.
Despite the major improvements to the nightclub setting, another deadly nightclub fire occurred in New England over 60 years after the Coconut Grove blaze. On Feb. 20, 2003, 462 patrons were inside “The Station” in West Warwick Rhode Island when pyrotechnics set off by the band “Great White” ignited sound-proofing foam around the stage and started a fire that rapidly grew out of control. 100 patrons perished in the subsequent fire.
The building was found to be in violation of fire codes due to the lack of a fire sprinkler system, although confusion in the inspection process had allowed the missing system to go unnoticed due to a building re-classification. The fire became a major point in the movement to require sprinkler systems in all commercial buildings across America, and today a number of states require such a law, and a majority of states require such in nightclub settings.
Next week, we’ll wrap up our historic series by taking a look at one of the most dangerous and deadly wildfires in U.S. history.
Knoll, 19, of Eldora, can be contacted by email at bknolljr4cmcherald@yahoo.com. He is a student at Rowan University.