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Our Lady of the Angels School Fire

National Fire Heritage Center

Where this source supports the record

Each entry separates the article’s editorial relevance note from its exact, section-level claims. A bibliography link without a direct claim is labeled plainly.

  1. Fires · 1 December 1958

    The Our Lady of the Angels School Fire

    Our Lady of the Angels School site · United States

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    Why editors use it here

    Document collection including reports, photographs, floor plans, and firefighter testimony.

    1. Quick read

      Shortly before dismissal on 1 December 1958, a basement fire spread into an open stairwell at Our Lady of the Angels parochial school in Chicago.

      Reviewed 26 July 2026
    2. Trigger and conditions

      Fire began in or near a basement stairwell and smoldered undetected before hot gases moved upward.

      Reviewed 26 July 2026
    3. Uncertainty

      Investigators located the origin but did not establish whether ignition was accidental or deliberate.

      Reviewed 26 July 2026
    4. Why it matters

      The school technically complied and was still catastrophically unsafe.

      Reviewed 26 July 2026