格雷戈里·哈维尔（Gregory Havel）
周六，December 1，2012年是54thanniversary of the fire at天使夫人伊利诺伊州芝加哥的天主教学校。三个在schooland 92 children died. Many more were injured by heat, smoke, and jumping from windows to escape the fire.
该学校在幼儿园到八年级有约1,600名学生，在二至八年级的主要学校大楼中约有1,400名学生。这所学校人满为患，在24个教室中的每个教室中的每一个中都有大约60名学生。
这school was of Type III construction (ordinary construction, or brick-and-joist). It was 2 1/2-stories high, with the basement ½-story below street level. The south wing was built in 1903, and the north wing in 1910. They were joined by an annex, built in1951年。学校已经改建了几次。
教学大楼没有能力抵抗任何形式的火。建筑物的外部是砖砌的，但横梁，地板，屋顶，楼梯，门和内部隔板都是木头。硬木地板被清漆并涂上蜡。墙壁上覆盖着油基油漆层。天花板上覆盖着可燃纤维素纤维的声学瓷砖。每个教室门上方都有一个玻璃横梁窗口。由于建筑物的天花板位于地板上方12英尺（3.658m），并且窗台上的窗台为三英尺（0.915m）或更高的教室地板，因此二楼的窗台窗台接近25英尺（763m）在下面的校园上方。
这fire-alarm system consisted of two manual pull stations in the south wing, and none in the north wing. The fire alarm system had no connection to the fire department dispatch office. Heat and smoke detectors were not present, since in 1958 these were primitive, costly, and not yet readily available.
这re was no automatic fire sprinkler system. Stairways were not inside fire-rated enclosures with fire-rated doors. The only fire escape was in the annex near one end of the north wing, and required use of the main corridor for access.
四个苏打酸灭火器（A类反转型灭火器，在每个楼层上的2.5加仑（9.46升）上方安装了7英尺（2.134亿），以防止学生篡改它们，这也使他们摆脱困境许多成年人的范围。
天使夫人school had passed a fire department safety inspection only a few weeks before the fire. The school did not have to comply with the 1949 Chicago Municipal Fire Code because of a “grandfather clause” in the code. Existing schools were not required to retrofit the safety devices that were required in all newly constructed schools, and were permitted to remain in compliance with the 1905 Chicago city ordinances.
这fire started between 2:00 and 2:20pm on December 1, 1958, in a cardboard trash barrel in the basement of the north wing at the foot of the northeast stairwell. It burned undetected for 15 to 30 minutes, filling the stairwell with superheated gases and smoke. A window at the foot of the stairs broke from the heat, providing the fire with a new source of oxygen. The wood stairway ignited, as did the rubberized paint on the walls. Superheated gases and smoke bypassed the first floor, which was protected by a heavy wooden door, filling the second floor corridor with gases and smoke since there was no door at the head of the stairway.
同时，在二楼假天花板上方的地下室和鸡舍之间奔跑的管道追逐充当了填充Cockloft的过热气体的烟囱。温度迅速上升，直到点燃这些隐藏空间中裸露的木材框架。这fire swept through the second floor corridor在the north wing of the school at the same time that the cockloft above the classrooms闪烁。
Photo above from the January 1959 issue of188金宝搏是正规吗消防工程（将文章作为PDF下载HERE[3 MB]）
到北翼二楼的329名学生和五个教学修女意识到发生了火灾时，唯一的逃生路线（走廊）被热和烟雾所阻挡。修女们鼓励他们的学生坐在桌子上或聚集圈子祈祷 - 直到烟雾和大火闯入教室，点燃了可燃的纤维素纤维纤维天花板瓷砖，并将所有人迫使每个人都进入窗户。由于消防部门尚未带着引擎和梯子到达，有些人开始跳跃，而另一些人则跌倒或被推到三英尺高的窗户上，到达25英尺的滴落到下面的人行道或砾石。
这first floor classrooms and the second floor classrooms in the south wing were successfully evacuated, as was the second floor classroom with the fire escape in the annex.
Firefighters arrived within four minutes of dispatch, but by then the fire was out of control. Their arrival was delayed because they had been incorrectly directed to the parish rectory around the corner, and had to reposition apparatus and equipment after the correct address was found. They were further delayed because the south windows of the north wing of the school overlooked a courtyard surrounded by the school building on three sides, and by a seven-foot iron fence with a locked gate on the fourth side.
Firefighters began rescuing students and nuns over ladders from the second-floor windows, as others continued to jump to escape the flashover of the classrooms. More than 160 children were rescued down ladders, but the rest who died had been unable to get to a ladder or jump from the windows. Of those who jumped, some were killed by the fall and the rest were seriously injured. Many of the smaller children were not able to climb over the window sills and were trapped and died when the classrooms flashed over.
Contributing to the rapid growth of this fire and its tragic results were:
- 建筑物的建造，有互连的隐藏空间
- 开放楼梯
- 走廊和教室之间缺乏火评估的分区和门
- Glass transoms above the classroom doors
- Combustible wood trim and combustible interior finishes
- 整个建筑物中缺乏有效的火灾报警系统
- Delayed notification of the fire department
- Delayed arrival of the fire department
In the only positive outcome of the tragedy, major changes in school fire safety regulations were enacted nationwide; and the life-safety, fire, and building codes were revised and strengthened, and applied to occupancies in addition to schools.
有关这场悲剧大火的更多信息，请访问网站http://www.olafire.com网页有建筑计划和三维模型，照片，国家新闻报道有关大火的故事；以及有关建筑物，其乘员和大火受害者的统计数据。
此外，在美国国家消防学院的网上目录中搜索学习资源中心的在线目录188博金宝体育1http://www.lrc.fema.gov/index.html; and internet search for “Our Lady of the Angels Fire.”
Download this article as a PDFHERE。
格雷戈里·哈维尔（Gregory Havel）is a member of the Town of Burlington (WI)Fire Department; retired deputy chief andtraining officer; and a 30-year veteran of thefire service。他是一个Wisconsin-certifiedfire instructorII, fire officer II, and fire inspector; an adjunct讲师在fire serviceprograms at GatewayTechnicalCollege; and安全director for Scherrer Construction Co., Inc. Havel has a bachelor’s degree from St. Norbert College; has more than 30 years of experience in facilities management and building construction; and has presented classes at FDIC.
