8 MAIL TRIBUNE, Me J ford. Ore.. Wednesday, December 3, 1958
Public (Officials (Demand Tighter
Fire Safetv Measures in Schools
By Uniled Press International
Public officials throughout
the nation today demanded
more stringent fire safety
measures to prevent school
fires similar to that which
claimed 90 lives in Chicago
Monday.
Chicago's most tragic school
fire, which killed 87 children
between the ages of 9 and 15,
and three Roman Catholic
nuns, spurred Immediate in
vestigations in most large
cities.
The Our Lady of the An
zels trasedv also laid bare
in many areas the recurring
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OUT OF THE INFERNO A fireman carries the unconscious body of a boy from
the Chicago parochial school where more than 80 children died when fire swept
the 48-year-old building. The catastrophic fire burst out only half an hour before the
students were to be sent home for the day.
Virtuoso to make Medford Appearance
RAFAEL MENDEZ, World's Leading TRUMPET VIRTUOSO,
Will be featured os soloist with the Medford High School Band, Sunday, Dec. 14th,
2 P.M. at the High School Auditorium. The aggregation will include the one hundred
piece band from Medford High School under the direction of Irv Mirick and choir of
eighty voices led by Lynn Sjolund. The appearance of Rafael Mendez in Medford at the
annual band benefit is being sponsored by the Purucker Music House. This presentation
is to help the Medford High School Band to participate this year in the annual Shrine
East-West football game pageantry at San Francisco . . . benefit for crippled children.
Only the outstanding bands in the west coast area will have the privilege of performing
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Mendez trumpet by F. E. Olds & Son
"Without fear of contradiction, I can say that Rafael Mendez is the greatest trumpeter in the world
today. He has no equal. He ranks in virtuosity with Jascha Heifetz, Fritz Kreisler, and other world
famous artists ... Rafael Mendez is in a class entirely by himself. He excels in all particulars: his
tone is all that can be desired, his technique is unsurpassable, and his style is that of the true artist.
His breath control is truly a revelation. Mr. Mendez also possesses personality and magnetism. He is
in every sense a great musician." Dr. Edwin Franko Goldman.
crises in schools -lack of
money to build new ones and
the tendency to go soft on
safety measures during fair
weather.
"It. takes a tragedy like
this to wake people up," said
Fire Chief Arnold W. Phil
lips of Indianapolis, Ind.,
when he was ordered to make
a thorough check of all pub
lic, private and parochial
Older Schools
In most areas, the biggest
problem was the condition of
the older and obsolete school
buildings, emphasized by the
fact that Chicago's fire broke
out in a 40-year-old building
which had one fire escape.
The example set by the Chi
cago fire threatened the clos
ing of at least one school.
In Sioux City, Iowa, an in
vestigation was made of the
68-year-old Cathedral Paro
chial Grade School "with an
eye to ordering the school
closed as a fire hazard," ac
cording to Capt. Philip Kem
mish, head of the Fire Depart
ment Prevention Bureau.
In New York City, Fire
Commissioner Edward F. Cav
anagh Jr. ordered an imme
diate basement-to-roof inspec
tion of the city's 1,500 pub
lic, private and parochial
schools.
New York Gov. Averell
Harriman in Albany called
for a complete review of re
cently completed fire inspec
tion reports covering all pri
vate and parochial schools in
the state.
Order Fire Inspections -
Immediate fire inspections
of all schools also were or
dered in Atlanta, Boston,
Memphis and Nashville,
Tenn.; Birmingham, Ala.;- In
dianapolis, Ind.; El Paso, Tex.;
Milwaukee, and throughout
Georgia.
In Boston, where one of
the nation's most disastrous
fires killed 493 persons at the
Cocoanut Grove nightclub on
Nov. 28, 1942, firemen were
ordered to make particular
checks of storage space for
trash and inflammable mate
rials. Percy Bugbee, general man
ager of the National Fire Pro
tective Association, also in
Parents of Young
Nun To Arrive
Af Death Scene
Chicago - (UPD - Nuns at the
convent of Our Lady of the
Angels today awaited the ar
rival of the grieving parents
of Sister Mary Clare Theresa,
27, youngest of the -three nuns
who perished in the tragic
school fire.
"We can't give impressions
of Sister Mary Clare Theresa
because we are so sad and
there were so many," one of
the several nuns attending the
wake of their three sisters
said.
"Let us just say she was a
wonderful young lady.".
Her parents, Mr. and Mrs.
Louis Champagne of New Or
leans, La., were expected to
arrive at the grim death
scene of their daughter and
89 other victims, two of them
nuns and the rest children,
some time early today.
Tears Shed
An estimated 1,500 persons
from throughout the city filed
past the three black caskets
adorned with small silver cru
cifixes in the convent Tues
day night. Several unasham-
Boston, said the Chicago fire
"reemphasizes the folly of
permitting combustible trash
to accumlate in any building
and the danger of combustible
interior finish."
Replace Older Schools
Safety Director Louis
Rosenberg of Pittsburgh and
other safety officials from the
Steel City were to travel to
Chicago Thursday to learn
more about the cause of the
Our Lady of the Angels fire.
Pittsburgh voters in 1953
rejected a referendum pro
posal which would have fi
nanced gradual replacement
of obsolete buildings.
Although hundreds of new
schools have been erected
across the nation in recent
years, construction of many
has also been turned down
by voters in bond issue elec
tions. The fire brought new de
mands for replacement of old
schools throughout the South
and the Southwest, and the
concern of parents, school and
fire officials was expected to
result in tightening of fire
safety measures.
HIS BOY DEAD Grief -stricken father Phil Comparetto
cries uncontrollably after identifying the body of his
14-year-old son at the Cook County morgue in Chicago.
Comparetto's boy was one of eighty-som children who
perished when fire swept through a Roman Catholic
parochial school, only half an hour before the students
were to have been released.
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'Blunder' of Leaving Doors
Open Added To Fire Death Toll
B o s t o n (UPI) The tragic
death toll in the Chicago
school fire was caused chief
ly by the "simple blunder" of
leaving doors open, the Na-.
tional Fire Protection Asso
ciation said Tuesday night.
Two staff engineers of the
association, which is the au
thoritative source of fire safe
ty standards and information,
had been sent to Our Lady of
Angels parochial school to in
vestigate. Percy Bugbee, general man
ager of the organization
which has . its headquarters
here, said the fire experts
found that heavy doors on a
second floor landing were
left open, allowing fire and
hot gasses to spread rapidly
through the corridor serving
six classrooms.
Nearly all of the 90 victims,
87 of them children, were in
edly shed tears as they gazed
upon the caskets.
Parents of several of the
nuns were present. They
joined with parishioners who
knew the sisters, many news
men and others who -were ap
parently strangers just paying
their respects.
Sister Adrienne, who had
baen delegated to direct the
wake, quietly but pleasantly
refused to. comment. There
was significance, however, to
her refusal. Her expression of
grief, and, perhaps slight dis
approval of publicity, were
visible.
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these six classrooms.
"The simple precaution of
keeping these second floor
landing- doors closed would
have Jcept the intense fire and
hot gasses out . . . for many
precious minutes," Bugbee
said. "In all likelihood every
classroom could have been
emptied in time."
He said it was significant
in the engineers' report that
the fire did not enter the first
floor because of a closed fire
door.
The fire started in a mass
of combustible trash and
building materials at the
basement level, the report
said, with the originating
cause not yet determined. The
flames spread up the stair
well, were blocked at the
first floor, and then flashed
through the top level.
Bugbee added that "the
one bit of comfort you can
take from the Chicago dis
aster is this the incident will
start a wave of school Inspec
tions throughout the country
and a tightening up of rules
and regulations. So the long
term result will be a saving
of human lives that otherwise
might have been lost in fires
like this one."
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