The 1911 Triangle Waist Company fire spread quickly, 18 minutes from start to finish. Flames were fueled by hundreds of pounds of cotton scraps, tissue paper patterns, and wooden work tables. Smoking was prohibited, but workers hid matches and cigarettes in wicker bins along with leftover material, a likely source of the fire. Smelling smoke, they turned on the hose valves but no water came out. Read about one survivor of the fire in Tazia and Gemma (see NOVELS).
