 Gravestone for the victims at the Rose Cemetery in Hobart, Oklahoma. | |
| Date | December 24, 1924 |
|---|---|
| Location | Babbs Switch, Oklahoma |
| Deaths | 36 |
| Non-fatal injuries | 37+ |
| Missing | 1 |
The Babbs Switch fire on December 24, 1924, killed thirty-six people in a one-room school house at Babbs Switch, Oklahoma. Whole families died, and more than half the dead were children. [1] According to the National Fire Protection Association, it is the sixth-deadliest school fire on record in the United States. [2]
The fire started during a Christmas Eve party attended by over 200 people. [3] A Christmas tree decorated with lighted candles stood at the front of the room, and presents were placed on the tree to be distributed to the children in attendance at the end of the program. The fire began when a teenage student dressed as Santa Claus was removing presents from the tree to give to the children. [4] The flames ignited paper decorations, tinsel, and dry needles and spread quickly to the tree, stage, and the greater structure of the building. People rushed to the building's single door, which opened inward and was soon jammed with people. Escape through the windows was blocked because they were covered with secure metal screens to prevent vandals from breaking into the school. [5] One boy was able to escape through a window because someone succeeded in prying open a corner of one of the screens. [4]
The dead and injured were transported by car to Hobart, the nearest sizable town, and a makeshift morgue was set up in a downtown building. [6] The next day, 32 people were reported dead, and 37 injured were reported in Hobart hospitals. [3] Four died of their injuries, bringing the number of dead to 36. [6] One child, three-year-old Mary Edens, was reported as missing, but her body was not found. Her aunt Alice Noah, who escaped from the building but died several days later, said that she recalled carrying Mary out of the building and handing her to someone she did not know. [7]
The fire was quickly investigated by the National Fire Protection Association (NFPA) and the Oklahoma Inspection Bureau, both of which published their analyses of the fire in January 1925. [3] [4] The reports identified multiple factors that compounded the severity of the fire. The NFPA stated, "It is hardly conceivable that conditions could have been worse, even in so rudimentary a structure as this one-story building." [3] Both reports found that the building was overcrowded, with the number of people in attendance clearly exceeding the room's capacity. The reports differed in their statements on the attendance and size of the room; the NFPA said there were 200 to 250 people in attendance in a 25 by 36 foot room, while the Oklahoma Inspection Bureau said that there were 150 people in a 20 by 36 foot room. [3] [4] The schoolhouse was a light wood-frame building, which offered no fire resistance. [3] Gas lamps were used to light the building, which quickly exploded due to the heat from the fire. [3] The ceiling had been freshly painted with white oil paint, which made the fire flashover once it reached the ceiling. [4] Lighted candles on a Christmas tree were a well-known fire hazard, and the Oklahoma Inspection Bureau noted that having the teenage Santa Claus remove presents from the branches of the lighted tree was very risky. [4] The one usable door to the building opened inward, which is hazardous in emergency situations because a crowd pressing against the door will make it impossible to open. [3] [8] The NFPA report said there was only one door, while the Oklahoma Inspection Bureau report noted that there was a second door, but that door opened into a coal bin that had been added after the school was built and thus was not a usable exit. [3] [4] The windows were covered with secure metal screens to prevent vandals from breaking into the school. [3] [4] There was no firefighting equipment in the building, and there was no running water anywhere near the school. [3] Fire marshal James A. Adkinson helped investigate many schools in the area to make sure all schools were as safe as possible.
The survivors and families of the victims received charitable donations locally and from around the country. Hobart Mayor F.E. Gillespie appointed a committee to ensure proper care for the children who were orphaned by the fire. [9] The day after the fire, 25 children from Muskogee, Oklahoma sent a box of their new Christmas toys to the children who survived the fire. [9] A finance committee in Hobart in charge of managing cash donations distributed a total of $12,803. [10]
In the years prior to the fire, the Oklahoma State Fire Marshal had attempted, due to their known safety risks, to identify all the one-room, one-door schoolhouses in Oklahoma, but county superintendents had not been forthcoming with that information. [11] The fire galvanized school officials and concerned citizens, who voluntarily requested safety inspections for their schools. By February 1925, the fire marshal's office had received over 400 requests for inspections, and over 150 schools had already been inspected and had made the safety improvements recommended by the fire marshal. [12]
In response to the fire, the state of Oklahoma passed the Fawks Bill, which increased fire safety requirements for schools. This law required all schools to have a minimum of two doors, and all school doors were required to open outward. Any window screens had to be removable from the inside, and schools had to keep fire extinguishers on the premises. Copies of the law were sent to every school official in the state so no one could claim ignorance of the new standards. [13] In July 1926, John Carrol, assistant fire marshal, stated that since the time of the fire, school officials had willingly implemented the safety improvements recommended to them by Office of the State Fire Marshal. [14] He stated, "Schoolhouses of Oklahoma are virtually all in excellent shape now." [14]
A new school was built on the site in 1925 but closed in 1943 when the Babbs Switch district was annexed into the nearby Hobart and Roosevelt districts. A stone monument, which bears a short description of the fire and a list of the dead, currently stands on the site of the former school. [5]
The nationwide publicity over the fire led to stricter fire safety codes for schools and other public buildings.[ citation needed ]
The fire gave rise to a hoax. Because three-year-old Mary Edens's body was not recovered, her parents hoped that she had somehow survived the fire. In 1957, Grace Reynolds of Barstow, California came forward, claiming to be the long-lost child. [7] Reynolds and the Edens family were reunited on the air during an episode of the Art Linkletter's House Party television program. [7] Reynolds later wrote a book about her experiences entitled Mary, Child of Tragedy: The Story of the Lost Child of the 1924 Babbs Switch Fire. [15] [16] A local newspaper editor knew the story to be fraudulent, but withheld the information until 1999 at the request of Mary Edens's father, who believed his wife could not endure losing her child a second time. [7]
A fire drill is a method of practicing how a building should evacuate in the event of a fire or other emergencies. In most cases, the building's existing fire alarm system is activated and the building is evacuated by means of the nearest available exits, as if an emergency had actually occurred. Fire drill procedures may vary depending on the building type, such as hospitals or high rise buildings, where occupants may be relocated within the building as opposed to evacuating the building. Generally, the evacuation interval is measured to ensure that it is fast enough, and problems with the emergency system or evacuation procedures are identified so that they may be remedied.
The Station nightclub fire occurred on the evening of February 20, 2003, at The Station, a nightclub and hard rock music venue located at 211 Cowesett Avenue in West Warwick, Rhode Island, United States, killing 100 people and injuring 230. During a concert by the rock band Great White, a pyrotechnic display ignited flammable acoustic foam in the walls and ceilings surrounding the stage. Within six minutes, the entire building was engulfed in flames. The fire was the deadliest fireworks accident in U.S. history and the fourth-deadliest nightclub fire in U.S. history. It was also the second-deadliest nightclub fire in New England, behind the 1942 Cocoanut Grove fire.
A fire marshal, in the United States and Canada, is often a member of a state, provincial or territorial government, but may be part of a building department or a separate department altogether. Fire marshals' duties vary but usually include fire code enforcement or investigating fires for origin and cause. Fire marshals may be sworn law enforcement officers and are often experienced firefighters. In larger cities with substantially developed fire departments the local fire departments are sometimes delegated some of the duties of the fire marshal.
On Monday, December 1, 1958, a fire broke out at Our Lady of the Angels School in Chicago, Illinois, shortly before classes were to be dismissed for the day. The fire 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, fire, and toxic gases cut off their normal means of egress through corridors and stairways. Many more were injured when they jumped from second-floor windows which, because the building had a raised basement, were nearly as high above ground as a third floor would be on level ground, approximately 25 feet (7.6 m).
The National Fire Protection Association (NFPA) is a U.S.-based international nonprofit organization devoted to eliminating death, injury, property, and economic loss due to fire, electrical, and related hazards. As of 2023, the NFPA claims to have 50,000 members and 9,000 volunteers working with the organization through its 250 technical committees.
Fire safety is the set of practices intended to reduce destruction caused by fire. Fire safety measures include those that are intended to prevent the ignition of an uncontrolled fire and those that are used to limit the spread and impact of a fire.
"NFPA 704: Standard System for the Identification of the Hazards of Materials for Emergency Response" is a standard maintained by the U.S.-based National Fire Protection Association. First "tentatively adopted as a guide" in 1960, and revised several times since then, it defines the "Safety Square" or "Fire Diamond" which is used to quickly and easily identify the risks posed by hazardous materials. This helps determine what, if any, special equipment should be used, procedures followed, or precautions taken during the initial stages of an emergency response. It is an internationally accepted safety standard, and is crucial while transporting chemicals.
The publication Life Safety Code, known as NFPA 101, is a consensus standard widely adopted in the United States. It is administered, trademarked, copyrighted, and published by the National Fire Protection Association and, like many NFPA documents, is systematically revised on a three-year cycle.
Fire prevention is a function of many fire departments. The goal of fire prevention is to educate the public on the precautions that should be taken to prevent potentially harmful fires from occurring. It is a proactive method of preventing fire-based emergencies and reducing the damage caused by them. Fire prevention education can take the form of videos, pamphlets, and banners. Often, the messages and lessons are simple tips. Many fire departments will have one or more Fire Prevention Officers, which may also be a routine duty of firefighters.
A fire alarm system is a building system designed to detect, alert occupants, and alert emergency forces of the presence of fire, smoke, carbon monoxide, or other fire-related emergencies. Fire alarm systems are required in most commercial buildings. They may include smoke detectors, heat detectors, and manual fire alarm activation devices. All components of a fire alarm system are connected to a fire alarm control panel. Fire alarm control panels are usually found in an electrical or panel room. Fire alarm systems generally use visual and audio signalization to warn the occupants of the building. Some fire alarm systems may also disable elevators, which are unsafe to use during a fire under most circumstances.
The Golden Age Nursing Home fire took place soon after 4:45 am on November 23, 1963, a mile north of Fitchville, Ohio, United States, killing 63 residents. The news of the fire was overshadowed by the assassination of President John F. Kennedy, which had occurred in Dallas, Texas on the previous day.
Babbs is a community in Kiowa County, Oklahoma, United States. It was named for Edith "Babbs" Babcock. Babbs is 6 miles (9.7 km) south-southeast of Hobart, and is at an elevation of 1,535 feet (468 m).
On September 3, 1991, an industrial fire caused by a failed improvised repair to a hydraulic line destroyed the Imperial Food Products chicken processing plant in Hamlet, North Carolina. Despite three previous fires in 11 years of operation, the plant had never received a safety inspection. The fire killed 25 people and injured 54, many of whom were unable to escape due to locked exits. It was the second deadliest industrial disaster in North Carolina's history.
The Office of the Oklahoma State Fire Marshal (OSFM) is an agency of the government of Oklahoma responsible for preventing and investigating loss of life and destruction of property caused by fire. OSFM accomplishes its mission through public education, criminal investigations, building inspections, and fire code enforcement activities.
Babbs may refer to:
The Winecoff Hotel fire, of December 7, 1946, was the deadliest hotel fire in American history, killing 119 hotel occupants, including the hotel's original owners. Located at 176 Peachtree Street in Atlanta, Georgia, the Winecoff Hotel was advertised as "absolutely fireproof". While the hotel's steel structure was indeed protected against the effects of fire, its interior finishes were combustible and the building's exit arrangements consisted of a single stairway serving all fifteen floors. All of the hotel's occupants above the fire's origin on the third floor were trapped, and the fire's survivors either were rescued from upper-story windows or jumped into nets held by firemen.
Joseph E. Dorman is an American politician who served in the Oklahoma House of Representatives, representing the 65th electoral district between 2002 and 2014. He is a member of the Democratic Party.
The Wild Mary Sudik gusher was an oil well blowout that took place on March 26, 1930 in what is now Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, USA. The gusher from Mary Sudik No. 1 well received extensive media coverage and was the subject of daily radio reports by NBC's Floyd Gibbons and newsreels that were shown in movie theaters. The gusher flowed for eleven days before it was capped on the third try.
Plaza Towers Elementary School is a public elementary school in Moore, Oklahoma, in the Oklahoma City metropolitan area. It is a part of Moore Public Schools. Plaza Towers is located in southwest Moore within a neighborhood of the same name. The school's mascot is the panther, named "Paws". The school's current building opened in 2014 after the previous facility was destroyed by the 2013 Moore tornado; seven students at the school died as a result of the tornado's impact.
The Hope Development School fire started about 9 p.m. on the evening of May 31, 1924 in Playa Del Rey, Los Angeles, California. The fire at the Hope Development School for Deficient Girls killed 24 people, primarily the mentally disabled or behaviorally challenged girls who were residents of the home, as well as the matron and her eight-year-old son.