Shortly before school was dismissed on December 1, 1958, the Our Lady of the Angels parochial school in Chicago, a fire broke out in the basement of the school.
Originally, the building was a church and had wings added on until it was 'U' shaped two story building, two wings joined by a hallway. Over the years, the school 'grandfathered' out of getting sprinklers installed in the building. It passed inspection in October of 1958, although there was only one fire door on the first floor, the only fire extinguisher was seven feet off the ground and classrooms were overcrowded.
Built like schools of that era, OLA had highly waxed floors, wooden stairs,varnished woodwork, wooden lathe-type walls covered in plaster, high windowpanes that were above radiators and layers of paint on the walls. There were numerous layers of tarpaper on the building's roof. The school was thought to be safe since it was a brick building.
Only one janitor was hired to care for the school, church and other church property. He worked hard and strived to keep the school as clean as possible. At the end of the day, students would bring down trashcans full of wastepaper to be dumped in a large cardboard-type container.
Students in the school recalled a known firebug fellow student who went downstairs with another boy to dispose of the trash. He allegedly disappeared in the basement and the other boy went to tell his teacher that his partner didn't want to come back upstairs.
Allegedly, the highly troubled 10-year-old had a book of matches he'd stolen from his stepfather. He used three matches to start a fire in the large container, which was located under one set of stairs. He calmly walked back to the classroom
When a window broke due to the heat, the fire got a headstart. It didn't spread to the first floor due to the fire doors. The staircase was then transformed into a huge flue. Heat rose to the cockloft above the acoustic ceiling tiles in the classroom.
By the time teachers and students realized that the building was on fire, it was too late. Fire companies responded, but precious time was lost when firefighters had to knock down a six-foot-tall iron gate to gain access to the second floor.
The out-of-control blaze forced teachers and students to remain in their classrooms. Some did escape, with the help of teaching nuns either helping them get out of the window, rolling the students down the stairs, through the toxic, thick, black smoke or panic-stricken kids simply plunged 25 feet to pavement.
Many children died of asphyxiation. In total, 92 children and three teaching nuns were killed. Firefighters were horrified when rooms filled with children flashed over before their eyes, killing everyone in the rooms instantly. Twenty eight pupils and their teacher were found in another classroom, all victims of asphyxiation.
Eventually, the troubled student was interviewed by law enforcement officers and an expert who dealt with children. The boy confessed, then recanted his testimony. The case was thrown out of court by a judge who didn't want to implicate the Church or put the boy's life at risk from parents who might seek revenge. To this day, the case is officially unsolved.
Instead, the hardworking janitor was made a scapegoat and his life was ruined. Families moved out of the pleasant ethnic neighborhood (Italian, Irish, Polish, German families). By the time the boy was 13, he was suspected of killing five people in a bowling alley fire. He went to a juvenille detention center until he was an adult.
More facts about this hideous tragedy, period news articles and pictures are available at www.olafire.com.