{"id":179,"date":"2020-08-13T05:46:08","date_gmt":"2020-08-13T05:46:08","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/edblogs.pugetsound.edu\/shirtwaistsandtenements\/?page_id=179"},"modified":"2020-08-30T02:37:19","modified_gmt":"2020-08-30T02:37:19","slug":"stories-of-surviving-the-fire","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/edblogs.pugetsound.edu\/shirtwaistsandtenements\/?page_id=179","title":{"rendered":"Stories of Surviving the Fire"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

As the building caught on fire and panic set in, many workers rushed to the elevators to escape. \u201cI ran to the elevator because that was the only place to run to\u2026 the fire crept closer to us and we were crowded at the elevator door banging and hollering for the elevator\u201d tells Celia Walker Friedman.1<\/sup>\u00a0
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Workers who couldn’t reach the elevator or didn’t get on in time were trapped in the building. Ida Kornweiser tells how she kept a cool head and escaped the burning building suffering first degree burns.2<\/sup> \u201cI ran upstairs\u201d to the 10th floor and \u201cgot out on the roof.\u201d3<\/sup> In the next building was a class of New York University students who saw the fire and rushed to the roof to help the worker across to safety.4<\/sup> \u201cI remember how, with the help of students, we put boards across from one building to the other,\u201d Ida Kornweiser recounts. \u201cThat is how we were saved – during the whole time I didn’t get panicky. The way I remember it, I knew every minute, just what I was doing.\u201d5<\/sup> The vast majority of other workers trapped in the factory ablaze with flames ran towards the windows and many jumped out to escape the fire, often catastrophically falling to their deaths. As Mary Domsky-Abrams describes,\u00a0
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Workers who escaped and bystanders witnessing the tragedy. (Credit: Kheel Center)<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

The tragedy was even greater because of the fact that the fireman’s ladders were too short and couldn’t reach the ninth and tenth floors. Also, the nets spread to catch the jumpers were too weak, and many plunged right through to their deaths. I saw a number of firemen crying as they witnessed victims of the fire killed as they broke through the nets.6<\/sup><\/p><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

Many tried in vain to catch workers while other bystanders and workers who were able to escape, could only watch paralyzed in shocked horror.
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1.  Celia Walker Friedman, interview by Leon Stein, in person, 1957. Trianglefire.Ilr.Cornell.Edu, 2018. https:\/\/trianglefire.ilr.cornell.edu\/primary\/survivorInterviews\/CeliaWalkerFriedman.html<\/a>. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

2.  Ida Kornweiser, interview by Leon Stein, in person, 1951. Trianglefire.Ilr.Cornell.Edu, 2018. https:\/\/trianglefire.ilr.cornell.edu\/primary\/survivorInterviews\/IdaKornweiser.html<\/a>.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

3.  Ibid. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

4.  Michael Keene, with Hasia R. Diner, \u201cThe Triangle Shirtwaist Factory Fire,\u201d Podcast. Talking Heart Island<\/em>, 2019. https:\/\/talkinghartisland.podbean.com\/e\/the-triangle-shirt-waist-factory-fire-with-hasia-diner\/<\/a>. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

5.  Kornweiser, interview by Leon Stein. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

6.\u00a0 Mary Domsky-Abrams, interview by Leon Stein, in person. Trianglefire.Ilr.Cornell.Edu, 2018. https:\/\/trianglefire.ilr.cornell.edu\/primary\/survivorInterviews\/MaryDomskyAbrams.html<\/a>.\u00a0
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