Dramatization on Fire Safety in Schools / Educational Training Video

[beaviselectron]

This film was made in 1959, in a direct (but always deniedassociation with) the Our Lady of the Angels school fire in late 1958, in which 92 students and three teachers (nuns) died in a horrible and completely avoidable deathtrap scenario. Look it up on Wikipedia. It's chilling. This bldg was going to be demolished in LA and was very similar in build to the LOA school, so it was used to illustrate a "never again" policy. Hence, the name "Our Obligation."

[IDF1987]

This video was made in response to the OLA fire in Chicago.

[crazycuban6]

FUX

K MKAKPsfmSD

ASD

[57buickcentury]

The book shown in the film, "Operation School Burning", which was written as a result of these tests, is an interesting read and very informative; you can read it online at archive.org.

[57buickcentury]

This film was produced in 1959 during fire tests being made at Robert Louis Stevenson Junior High School located at 725 S. Indiana St. in East Los Angeles. The building (built in 1926) was scheduled for demolition due to seismic concerns, so the LAFD used a three-story section for the tests. The school building was replaced with a one-story structure which can be seen on Google Street View, but the buildings across the street are still there.

[avonee1976]

This story sounds exactly like what happened at Our Lady of the Angels in my hometown of Chicago. That school fire happened when my father was in the fifth grade at a neighboring Catholic school and my mom was a fourth grader at a Catholic school on the south side and both of them attended schools that did not have the fire safety measures in place today, such as sprinklers and fire alarms that ring directly to the fire department.

[avonee1976]

@vacuum321 Actually in my one story grade school (built in the early 60s), our third grade classroom had a direct exit that we also shared with the eighth grade classroom. We went into the coatroom, up four steps to a latched door, then down six steps to another door that led directly to the outside and this was the door that we used for fire drills only, so if there ever was a real fire blocking the main classroom door that led into the hallway, we still had a quick and easy way out.

[chrisphilliesrule13]

ya school out

[wileyk209zback]

@vacuum321 The school I went to for kindergarten (it's a K-8 school) has direct exits from each classroom. I guess that is because it's a one-story building. They use the exits not just for fire drill order, but for going to recess, leaving at the end of the day, etc. I think it would make more sense if they alarmed those direct exits from the classrooms and just used them for emergencies only.

[DandDskeeto]

For those interested in grade school fires., please check Lake View School Fire in Collinwood - 1908. ( That is located in the Cleveland area in Ohio. There is a video here on by that title not sure what film has to do with the event ) It is frequently stated INCORRECTLY that the doors in Collinwood opened inward ( not true ). Good wikkipedia article and excellent NFPA podcast in Sept. 08. Total death count 175 - largest school fire in national history.

[wileyk209zback]

Uh-oh, my junior high school actually has NO sprinklers or smoke/heat detectors, only manual pull stations in convenient locations. I suppose that's why they plan to get a new fire alarm system very soon (the school was built in 1957)

[NewAgeServerAlarm]

Wow... just wow. This really is a great movie. I emailed it to my firefighting class instructor, maybe to view in class to compare current firefighting and building construction with 1960's.

[gregorkrause]

where's the fire alarm sound?

[wileyk209zback]

It's faintly heard in the background; you'd need headphones or something due to the poor audio quality. It's a bell that rings in California Code.

[gregorkrause]

yeah i can hear carefuly without hedphones, i have good hearing.

[wilek209]

Ironic in a sad way how Jeremy likes bells, yet the fire he suffers through has a bell ringing throughout... the fire alarm!

[wilek209]

Wow, good thing none of the schools I attended were built like that! The elementary school where I had kindergarten, which was built in 1974, actually had direct exits in pretty much every classroom!

[TheKingsDaughter1977]

Thanks for posting...really helped me out in our Special Education school for Life Skills Training.

[rosaryfilms]

TheKingsDaughter1977, thank you very much!

[elliottveares]

wernt smoke and heat detectors around then , at least machanical heat.

[wilek209]

I think mechanical heat detectors were around back in the early 1960s, but that school's fire alarm system looked like it was from the 1940s or the early 1950s. (For those wondering, the alarm is a bell sounding in California Code, it pulses for ten seconds, pauses for four-five seconds, then repeats.)

[DandDskeeto]

You are correct about the heat detectors, they were even common by the early 60's. This actual study was done in LA.

[EpcotGirl]

This IS amazing work -- any idea what year it was produced? Thanks for posting it!

[rosaryfilms]

EpcotGirl, around 1961. Thanks!

[ECTBWHO]

Helpful

[rosaryfilms]

ECTBWHO, thank you!