Triangle Fire

The Triangle Shirtwaist Factory was one of the worst fires in the history of New York City. It took up the eighth, ninth, and tenth floors of the Asch Building. The factory produced women's blouses (also referred to as "shirtwaists"). The factory employed about 500 workers, mostly young immigrant women, who worked nine hours a day on weekdays plus seven hours on Saturdays. On the afternoon of Saturday, March 25, 1911, just as the workday ended, a fire flared up in a scrap bin under one of the cutters' tables on the eighth floor, likely caused by the disposal of an unextinguished match or cigarette butt. Although smoking was banned in the factory, cutters were known to sneak cigarettes, exhaling the smoke through their lapels to avoid detection. No accusation of arson was made in this specific case, however, as both owners of the factory were in attendance and had invited their children to the factory on that afternoon. A bookkeeper on the eighth floor warn