August 24, 201511 yr Stumbled on this after clicking on a couple of different links while perusing a Wikipedia article. I had never heard of this before, which surprises me. Any of you ever heard of it, especially our Catholic brethren? https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Our_Lady_of_the_Angels_School_fire A fire broke out at Our Lady of the Angels School shortly before classes were to be dismissed on Monday, December 1, 1958, in the basement near the foot of a stairway in the Our Lady of the Angels School in Chicago, Illinois. The elementary school was operated by the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Chicago and had an enrollment of approximately 1600 students. A total of 92 pupils and 3 nuns ultimately died when smoke, heat, fire, and toxic gasses cut off their normal means of escape through corridors and stairways. Many more were injured when they jumped from second-floor windows which, because the building had an English basement, were nearly as high as a third floor would be on level ground (c. 25 ft.).[1]
August 24, 201511 yr No I have never heard of this before, but maybe some people with some more years may have heard of this. Said when young people get taken away tragically, especially so many at once.
August 25, 201511 yr Never heard about it until you posted it, but there are several I had read about that involved a fire (Collinwood Ohio) and one that was dynamited (Bath Consolidated School, Michigan). It's sad to read about these disasters and that it has taken disasters to change building codes and regulations.
August 25, 201511 yr Remember this well as I was 11 years old . We had a special prayer service at our Church ( Sacred Heart in Bellevue ) the next day .
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