In March 1911, a fire broke out on the 8th floor of the Triangle Shirtwaist Company in the Asch Building in Greenwich Village of New York. The fire broke out when the shift was nearly over for the day. Most of the workers were young women and immigrants, and when they tried to escape the fire, they found the doors to the stairwells and exits locked. In total, 146 people were killed, many of whom jumped to the ground below in their desperate attempt to flee.

The tragedy forever changed how we exit buildings, leading to the development of a committee at the National Fire Protection Association®, which presented criteria for exits and fire escape stairways in buildings. These requirements were incorporated into a document we know today as NFPA 101®, Life Safety Code®.

Read more about the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory fire: https://www.nfpa.org/news-blogs-and-a...

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