IROQUOIS

THEATRE
BLAZE

INNOVATIVE ASSIGNMENT
ORIGIN
• Iroquois theater fire happened on December 13,
1903.
• It happened in Chigago, Illinois.
• It was deadliest theatre fire and deadliest single
building in United States.
• It was terrible to imagine.
About Iroquois Theatre
• Located in 24-28 west Randolph street in Chigago.
• Had a capacity of 1062 with three audience levels.
• Having approximately 700 seats.
Reasons behind the disaster
• An editor of Fireproof Magazine toured the building
during construction and noted "the absence of an
intake, or stage draft shaft; the exposed
reinforcement of the (proscenium) arch,the
presence of wood trim on everything and the
inadequate provision of exits."
Reasons...
• In the second act, as the orchestra swung into a dreamy
waltz called "Let Us Swear by the Pale Moonlight," an arc
light on the left side of the stage sputtered and ignited a
strip of paint-saturated muslin on a drape. Unnoticed at
first by the audience, the flame ran up the strip and into
the fly space above the stage where scenery hung.
•
• Suddenly, blazing fabric rained down on the stage. The
singers raced off, one with a costume on fire, and the
audience began to bolt. Foy then ran onstage, raised his
hands and tried to calm the crowd.
Development
• The Iroquois fire prompted widespread
implementation of the panic bar, first invented in
the United Kingdom following the Victoria Hall
disaster.
• A second result of the fire was the requirement
that an asbestos fire curtain (or sheet metal screen)
be raised before each performance and lowered
afterward to separate the audience from the stage.
Development
• The third result was that all doors in public
buildings must open in the direction of egress, but
that practice did not become national until the
Collinwood School Fire
Memorials

• Chicago held an annual memorial service at City

Hall, until the last survivors died.
•
• Five years after the fire, Andrew Kircher, founder of
Montrose Cemetery, erected a memorial on the
grounds to memorialize the tragedy.