Cocoanut Grove Case
Cocoanut Grove: Examining an American Tragedy
As a Failure of Fire Prevention Policy and Practice
Andres Velasco
Eastern Kentucky University
This paper was prepared for FSE 101 Fire Prevention, taught by Professor Sobaski.
Cocoanut Grove: Examining an American Tragedy as a Failure of Fire Prevention Policy and Practice On November 28, 1942, approximately 1000 people packed into three main rooms of a two-level nightclub at 17 Piedmont Street in Boston, Massachusetts. The
Cocoanut Grove club was one of New England’s premier nightclubs, located just outside the theater district on the edge of Bay Village, one of the city’s oldest historical neighborhoods. “At the time the Coconut Grove was …show more content…
The chapel bell at Malden’s Holy Cross Cemetery tolled almost continuously, as nineteen burials were scheduled” (Schorow, 2005, p.41).
Cause Unknown
How could this terrible event happen in the city known as the Athens of
America? Unfortunately, “[i]n this case, no official cause has been determined even after all these years (Beller & Sapochetti, 2000, p.91). The origin of the fire and its rapid spread mystified the experts who witnessed it and later investigated it.
The responsibility for analyzing all phases of the fire rested with William Arthur
Reilly, Boston’s fire commissioner, and Stephen J. Garrity, the state fire marshall to whom Reilly reported. They were assisted by Fire Chief Pope and the heads of
Fire Department divisions that had responded to the Grove alarms. These men had dealt with blazes in slums, warehouses, office buildings, and tenements for years. None of them had ever seen a fire that moved so fast, burned so fiercely, produced such curious gases, yet consumed so little of the building in which it broke out. (Benzaquin, 1959, p.215)
Some writers believe that a cause has been determined by advanced computerized fire modeling techniques. “As to the cause of the fire, in 1997, new information
As a Failure of Fire Prevention Policy and Practice
Andres Velasco
Eastern Kentucky University
This paper was prepared for FSE 101 Fire Prevention, taught by Professor Sobaski.
Cocoanut Grove: Examining an American Tragedy as a Failure of Fire Prevention Policy and Practice On November 28, 1942, approximately 1000 people packed into three main rooms of a two-level nightclub at 17 Piedmont Street in Boston, Massachusetts. The
Cocoanut Grove club was one of New England’s premier nightclubs, located just outside the theater district on the edge of Bay Village, one of the city’s oldest historical neighborhoods. “At the time the Coconut Grove was …show more content…
The chapel bell at Malden’s Holy Cross Cemetery tolled almost continuously, as nineteen burials were scheduled” (Schorow, 2005, p.41).
Cause Unknown
How could this terrible event happen in the city known as the Athens of
America? Unfortunately, “[i]n this case, no official cause has been determined even after all these years (Beller & Sapochetti, 2000, p.91). The origin of the fire and its rapid spread mystified the experts who witnessed it and later investigated it.
The responsibility for analyzing all phases of the fire rested with William Arthur
Reilly, Boston’s fire commissioner, and Stephen J. Garrity, the state fire marshall to whom Reilly reported. They were assisted by Fire Chief Pope and the heads of
Fire Department divisions that had responded to the Grove alarms. These men had dealt with blazes in slums, warehouses, office buildings, and tenements for years. None of them had ever seen a fire that moved so fast, burned so fiercely, produced such curious gases, yet consumed so little of the building in which it broke out. (Benzaquin, 1959, p.215)
Some writers believe that a cause has been determined by advanced computerized fire modeling techniques. “As to the cause of the fire, in 1997, new information