Cocoanut Grove Fire: Why the Exits Failed

On a Saturday night in November 1942, about a thousand people were inside a Boston nightclub licensed for 460. Fifteen minutes after the first flame, hundreds were dead, and the question that has outlived the fire is a plain one: why couldn't they just walk out? The answer is a revolving door that jammed, a bolted side door, an exit behind drapes, a door that opened the wrong way, and a rulebook that already existed. What this covers: The Cocoanut Grove on Piedmont Street, and an owner who was in the hospital that night A light bulb, a match, and the sixteen-year-old busboy who was blamed The revolving door, the Shawmut Street bolts, the draped exit and the inward-opening door Who got out: a tap dancer, a band, five people in a refrigerator, and three sailors with axes The grand jury, the manslaughter conviction and the 1944 court ruling on owners who aren't in the room The 1927 exit code, and the rules that make doors swing outward today The story behind the thing. Narration is computer-generated (text-to-speech); research, script and drawings are original. Notes on the record: the death toll is usually given as 492; the fire commissioner's own final count was 490, and the memorial honours 490. The cause of ignition was never established ("of unknown origin"); the busboy was cleared in 1943. Accounts differ on how many counts Welansky was convicted of and whether anyone else was convicted; the video says only that he was convicted of manslaughter. The widely told story that actor Buck Jones went back inside to save others is disputed; the video says so rather than repeating it. Wren S O U R C E S THE FIRE AND THE EXITS Boston Fire Historical Society, "The 1942 Cocoanut Grove fire," bostonfirehistory.org. The timeline, the Melody Lounge, the alarms and the hospitals. Fire Engineering, "Flammable Decorations, Lack of Exits Create Tragedy at Cocoanut Grove." The six exits, the Shawmut Street bolts, the fabric tests and the grand jury. Reilly, W. A., Report concerning the Cocoanut Grove fire (Boston Fire Department), bostonfirehistory.org. The official investigation; cited through the sources above (the scan is not text-searchable). Sweeney, E., "77 years later, the mystery of the Cocoanut Grove fire remains unsolved," The Boston Globe, 27 November 2019. The unknown origin, the fire marshal's 1943 clearing of the busboy, the fireball. PEOPLE Cocoanut Grove Memorial Committee, "Last Survivor Stories" and "Impact of the fire," cocoanutgrove.org. Bob Shumway, Marshall Cole, Don Peterson, Joyce Spector. Associated Press (Glasheen, H. C.), first-hand account, reprinted by CBS Boston, 2017. The scene on Piedmont Street that night. Boston.com, "Cocoanut Grove fire memorial, 75 years," 28 November 2017. The boarded-up window, Welansky's words on release, the toll. THE TRIAL AND THE LAW Commonwealth v. Welansky, 316 Mass. 383, 55 N.E.2d 902 (Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court, 5 June 1944). Omission as reckless conduct; the owner who set up the system. EBSCO Research Starters, "Fire in Boston's Cocoanut Grove Nightclub Proves Deadly." The new lounge's missing occupancy approval, the pardon, the code changes. HGI, "Historic fires that shaped building codes: Cocoanut Grove"; CSE Magazine, "Assembly occupancy fires that wrote NFPA 101." The 1927 Building Exits Code and what NFPA 101 requires now. AFTER The Harvard Crimson, "The Fire That Changed The Way We Think About Grief," 29 November 2018. Erich Lindemann's study of the grieving. Wikipedia, "Cocoanut Grove fire." Used for cross-checks, and for the hospital and rule-change details, compared against the other sources where possible. #cocoanutgrove #firesafety #boston #history #truecrime