TRIANGLE SHIRTWAIST COMPANY FIRE

fatal conflagration that occurred on March 25, 1911, in a New York City sweatshop, touching off a national movement in the United States for safer working conditions. The fire started on the eighth floor of the Asch Building just east of Washington Square Park and quickly spread upward to the two top floors of the building. Some workers, having no way of opening the doors that had been locked to prevent theft, leapt from windows to their deaths. Fire truck ladders, then able to reach only six stories, were of little help, and the building's overloaded fire escape collapsed. One hundred forty-six individuals, mostly young immigrant women, died as a result of the conflagration. The disaster led to the creation of health and safety legislation, including factory fire codes and child-labour laws, and helped shape future labour laws.