Episode 698: Triangle Shirtwaist Fire: On Greed and Tragedy

On this episode of the Sofa King Podcast, we talk about an American tragedy—the fire at the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory. The date was March 25, 1911, and a sweatshop in the garment district of New York caught fire. At first, it was thought to be a cigarette in a scrap bin, but the tangle of boxes, oiled down floor, and lack of fire equipment turned it into disaster. The fire escape buckled from the crush of people, the elevator stopped working because so many burning bodies were on top of the car, and the fire fighters couldn’t get to their hoses because they were piled with corpses who jumped from ten stories above. What fate befell the factory owners? How did they make things even worse for the fire, and what corruption did they do before the fire? Listen, laugh, learn.

Visit Our Sources:

https://www.history.com/topics/early-20th-century-us/triangle-shirtwaist-fire

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Triangle_Shirtwaist_Factory_fire

https://trianglefire.ilr.cornell.edu/

https://www.osha.gov/aboutosha/40-years/trianglefactoryfire

https://www.smithsonianmag.com/history/uncovering-the-history-of-the-triangle-shirtwaist-fire-124701842/

https://www.britannica.com/event/Triangle-shirtwaist-factory-fire

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MP5qn1fNfek

https://www.famous-trials.com/trianglefire/964-home