Cocoanut Grove Fire
The Cocoanut Grove was Boston's premier nightclub during the post-Prohibition 1930s and 1940s. On November 28, 1942, this club was the scene of the deadliest nightclub fire in US history, killing 492 people (which was 32 more than the building's authorized capacity) and injuring hundreds more. It was also the second-worst single-building fire in American history; only the 1903 Iroquois Theatre fire in Chicago had a higher death toll, of 602.
The enormity of the tragedy shocked the nation and briefly replaced the events of World War II in newspaper headlines. In both fires, most of those who lost their lives would have survived had the existing safety codes been fully enforced. The tragedy led to a reform of safety standards and codes across the country, and major changes in the treatment and rehabilitation of burn victims.
Read more about Cocoanut Grove Fire: The Club, The Owner, November 28, 1942, The Fire, Victims and Escapes, Investigation, Advances in Burn and Psychiatric Care, Memorial
Famous quotes containing the words grove and/or fire:
“He was burned, so he ran into the bamboo grove, but the grove caught fire.”
—Punjabi proverb, trans. by Gurinder Singh Mann.
“The LORD went in front of them in a pillar of cloud by day, to lead them along the way, and in a pillar of fire by night, to give them light, so that they might travel by day and by night. Neither the pillar of cloud by day nor the pillar of fire by night left its place in front of the people.”
—Bible: Hebrew, Exodus 13:21,22.