When did the coconut grove nightclub fire happen?

Answer 1

November 28, 1942 in Boston, Massachusetts. The first alarm came in at 10:20 pm, a few minutes after firefighters had responded to a car-fire around the corner. The first "three alarms" were sounded within minutes and the "fourth alarm" at 10:24. It went to five alarms at 11:02 pm. Most of the victims were killed within the first four minutes, much like those at the fire at The Station nightclub in 2003.

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The Cocoanut Grove fire remains the second-deadliest single building fire in US history with a death toll of 491 or 492 depending on the source. (The Iroquois Theater fire in Chicago in 1903 claimed 602 victims.) The "Grove," as it is often called, was a series of small cocktail lounges and dining rooms tacked on to a renovated garage in downtown Boston. There were at least 9 exits, only two of which were not sealed off in some fashion. It was Saturday of Thanksgiving weekend, and the popular club was overflowing with approximately 1000 customers, nearly double its occupancy rate.

The interior of the building belied its mundane origins. Pictures taken before the fire show that the Coconut Grove truly was a beautiful recreation of a moonlit, tropical paradise with palm trees, blue skies and even a retractable roof for dancing under the stars. Although the club had passed a fire safety test the week before, it was actually in violation of numerous safety codes. Many materials in the interior were highly flammable, including papier-mâché decorations, sateen ceilings and leatherette walls. Nonetheless many of the victims died from smoke inhalation rather than burns. Some were trampled to death as they groped towards the main exit, a revolving door which quickly jammed, and behind which nearly 100 patrons died.

For many years it was believed the fire was touched off inadvertently in a dimly-lit downstairs lounge by a busboy who lit a match to replace a light bulb. This explanation never satisfied many fire safety experts, scientists and fire marshals. Nearly 50 years after the fire, it was determined that the Grove's ventilation system was the source of the blaze. In 1942, many chemicals were appropriated for the war effort, including Freon, which was often used as a coolant in air conditioning systems. The Grove was instead cooled with methyl chloride, a highly volatile compound with a low flash point. A spark or open flame such as from a cigarette lighter or match is sufficient to touch off methyl chloride.

This theory is now the accepted explanation as to why the fire grew so rapidly and so quickly out of control; why it raced around the ceilings rather than engulfing the walls, and why it burned itself out within minutes. The fire also exhausted its oxygen supply in short order because the club was windowless with many small rooms that had only one door in or out.

Answer 2

The Coconut Grove nightclub fire happened on November 28, 1942 in Boston, Massachusetts. It was one of the deadliest nightclub fires in U.S. history, resulting in the deaths of 492 people.