Collinwood School Fire
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The Collinwood School Fire (also known as the Lake View School Fire) of March 4, 1908 was one of the deadliest disasters of its type in America up until that time. 172 students, two teachers and a rescuer were killed in the tragedy in Collinwood, Ohio, a community that has since been absorbed into the city of Cleveland, Ohio.
While the Lake View School was built with load bearing masonary outer walls, much of the four story building’s floor structure system used wooden joists. It was one wooden joist that caught fire when it was overheated by a steam pipe. The building’s main stair case extended from the front doors of the building, up to the third floor; without benefit of fire doors, the stairwell acted like a chimney, helping to spread the fire quickly. Oiled wooden hall and classroom floors also fueled the fire.
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[edit] Door controversy
Initially, it was believed that those killed were trapped by the building's vestibule doors, which opened inward, not outward. Doors to the building were equipped with common door knob latches, not the more modern crash bar type latch. While panic leading to the crush of a large number of students in stairwell vestibules contributed to the death toll, students also died as a result of smoke inhalation and the fire itself. Some children died jumping from second and third story windows. Community members watched as victims trapped in the building were burned beyond recognition.
[edit] Aftermath
Those killed in the fire who could not be identified, or parents of students who could not afford a burial were buried in a mass grave in Cleveland's Lakeview Cemetery. Additionally, several families who lost their children in the fire chose to bury their children’s remains adjacent to the Collinwood victims.
Following the fire, the remains of the Lake View School were demolished and a memorial garden planned for the site. A new school, Collinwood Memorial Elementary School (razed in 2004) was built adjacent to the disaster site, and incorporated many features that had been lacking in the previous building. Unlike the building involved in the disaster, the new school incorporated fire safe stairwells, a central alarm system, and was built of steel framing and other fire safe materials. Although the new school was torn down in 2004, a memorial plaque remains on the site as new development is added to the area.
The disaster also led to a national effort to change doors at public building so that they opened outward, and made "panic bar" latches on doors required in all schools. The final casualty of the fire was the independence of the Collinwood community itself. Unable to sufficiently guarantee fire safety resources for its residents, voters approved an annexation of Collinwood into Cleveland within two years of the fire.
