Flesh and Blood So Cheap: The Triangle Fire and Its Legacy SG

What does the following passage mainly reveal about the workers' reaction to the fire?

Meanwhile, workers on the eighth floor rang furiously for the two passenger elevators. Safety experts have always advised against using elevators in a fire. Heat can easily damage their machinery, leaving trapped passengers dangling in space, to burn or suffocate. Despite the danger, the operators made several trips, saving scores of workers before heat bent the elevators’ tracks and put them out of action.

Those who could not board elevators rushed the stairway door. They caused a pileup so that those in front could not open the door. Whenever someone tried to get it open, the crowd pinned her against it. “All the girls were falling on me and they squeezed me to the door,” Ida Willensky recalled. “Three times I said to the girls, ‘Please, girls, let me open the door. Please!’ But they would not listen to me.” Finally, cutter Louis Brown barged through the crowd and forced the door open.

• They panicked, causing a stampede which blocked the stairs.

• They remained calm and quiet in the face of danger.

• They worked together to escape the fire safely.

• Some knew the elevator would get them out of the building the fastest.

Tags

CCSS.RI.7.2

CCSS.RI.8.2

CCSS.RL.6.2

CCSS.RL.7.2

CCSS.RL.8.2

Why was it unsafe to use an elevator during a fire?

• Taking the stairs is faster than the elevator because people don't have to wait for it to return.

• The heat from the fire can damage their machinery, leaving those inside trapped and dangling in space to burn or suffocate.

• Electricity usually stops working during a fire so it's possible to get stuck on the elevator.

• People will overcrowd the elevator which can cause it to stop working.

Tags

CCSS.RI.7.1

CCSS.RI.7.8

CCSS.RI.8.1

CCSS.RL.7.1

CCSS.RL.8.1

True or false: The building in which the Triangle Fire took place was faulty, thus causing the severe destruction.

• True

• False

Tags

CCSS.RI.5.5

CCSS.RI.6.5

CCSS.RI.7.5

CCSS.RI.8.5

CCSS.RI.9-10.5

Which of these inferences is best supported by the text?

• The owners of the factory made the workplace unsafe because they locked the doors, trapping the workers inside.

• The firefighters did not try very hard to rescue people, since many of the victims were women.

• The fire department was adequately prepared for a large-scale disaster, but by the time they arrived the fire had already been extinguished.

• The cause of the fire was determined quickly and easily.

Tags

CCSS.RI.7.1

CCSS.RI.8.1

CCSS.RL.6.1

CCSS.RL.7.1

CCSS.RL.8.1

Finish the sentence below about the victims of the fire based on the reading:

Many of the girls chose to ____ from the windows.

Tags

CCSS.RI.6.1

CCSS.RI.7.1

CCSS.RI.8.1

CCSS.RL.7.1

CCSS.RL.7.2

Which quote best supports the actions of firefighters when the workers jumped from the windows of the building?

• "Yet nothing they did could save those at the windows. Photos of the portable towers show streams of water playing on the top three floors. (A modern high-pressure pumper can send water as high as one thousand feet.) Plenty of water got through the windows, but not those with people standing in them. A burst of water under high pressure would have hurled them backward, into the flames."

• "Officers, fearing their men would be struck by falling bodies, ordered the nets removed."

• "Hoping to catch jumpers before they hit the ground, firefighters held up life nets, sturdy ten-foot-square nets made of rope."

Tags

CCSS.RI.7.1

CCSS.RI.7.8

CCSS.RI.8.1

CCSS.RL.7.1

CCSS.RL.8.1

Write in the vocabulary word which best finishes the sentence below:

An ________ flame can cause a widespread fire to consume the forest.

Tags

CCSS.RI.7.4

CCSS.RI.8.4

CCSS.RL.6.4

CCSS.RL.7.4

CCSS.RL.8.4

Write in the vocabulary word which best finishes the sentence below:

The ________ helped the firefighters move water from the fire hydrant.

Tags

CCSS.RI.6.4

CCSS.RI.7.4

CCSS.RI.8.4

CCSS.RL.7.4

CCSS.RL.8.4

Write in the vocabulary word which best finishes the sentence below:

Some say you can _________ a grease fire by covering the flames with a metal lid or cookie sheet because it won't have an oxygen source anymore.

Tags

CCSS.RI.7.4

CCSS.RI.8.4

CCSS.RL.6.4

CCSS.RL.7.4

CCSS.RL.8.4

Write in the vocabulary word which best finishes the sentence below:

The Triangle Fire was an _______ because of its huge size.

Tags

CCSS.RI.6.4

CCSS.RI.7.4

CCSS.RI.8.4

CCSS.RL.6.4

CCSS.RL.7.4