Died in a fire

• if a person died as a result of burns, add to died from burns
• if they were executed by fire (a medieval punishment), add to Burned at the stake
• If the fire is a well-known historic event, please consider making a project for that event, and relating it to this project. (ie Died in Triangle Shirtwaist Factory Fire)
• If all you know is "died in a fire," add to this project.
• Use Cause of Death Projects needed??? to ask questions, make comments, etc.

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Events causing fires include:

• Natural such as:
  • 1. Lightning strikes
  • 2. Forest, grass, etc fires
  • 3. Earthquakes
  • 4. Volcanoes
  • 5. Fire storms in cities (as in Chicago & London fires)
• Non Natural such as:
  • 1. Home fires: (Appliances & equipment, candles, children playing with fire, smoking materials, household products, holiday Christmas trees, holiday lights & decorations, etc causes)
  • 2. Chemical & gasses – Natural gas & LP-gas
  • 3. Spontaneous Combustion
  • 4. Fireworks
  • 5. Electrical or lighting equipment
  • 6. Structural fires
  • 7. Vehicle fires
  • 8. Plane crashes (For 9/11 related see: September 11 Memorial)
  • 9. Work place Fires

Deaths primarily occur from a fire as a result of Burns, Respiratory issues, &/or Injuries:

Death may be due to the effects of breathing the products of fire/ burning, principally carbon monoxide, as it replaces oxygen in the bloodstream but also cyanide and many other toxic by-products of combustion. Hydrogen cyanide results from the burning of plastics, such as PVC pipe, and interferes with cellular respiration. Phosgene is formed when household products, such as vinyl materials, are burned. At low levels, phosgene can cause itchy eyes and a sore throat; at higher levels it can cause pulmonary edema and death.

Alternatively, death may be due to the effects of heat (i.e. heat shock), or the inhalation of hot air/ gases. Often smoke incapacitates so quickly that people are overcome and can’t make it to an otherwise accessible exit. As a fire grows inside a building, it will often consume most of the available oxygen, slowing the burning process. This “incomplete combustion” results in toxic gases.

Heat & fire can cause the human flesh to burn from minor or 1st degree to 4th degree, which involves deeper tissues, such as muscle, tendons, or bone to death. The prognosis is worse in those with larger burns, those who are older, and those who are females. The presence of a smoke inhalation injury, other significant injuries such as long bone fractures, and serious co-morbidities (e.g. heart disease, diabetes, psychiatric illness, and suicidal intent) also influence prognosis.

The effects of heat and smoke / fumes are usually more rapid (in a house fire) than the effects of direct injury from flames. Heat is also a respiratory hazard, as superheated gases burn the respiratory tract. When the air is hot enough, one breath can kill.

Structural failure, trampling, crashes and similar causes can result in injuries that incapacitate or cause death.

Deadly Fires:

• DEADLIEST FIRES AND EXPLOSIONS IN U.S. HISTORY (top 20)
• Deadliest Single Building or Complex Fires & Explosions in the US
• DEADLIEST FIRES OR EXPLOSIONS IN THE WORLD
• Wikipedia - List of fires
  • Town/City fires - Antiquity - 2015
  • Building/ Structure fires -- 586 BCE - 2015
  • Transportation fires – 1800 - 2014
  • Train/Rail fires 1903 – 2014
  • Bus fires – 1988 – 2014
  • Road fires – 1978 – 2012
  • Other fires – 1916 – 2009
  • Mining fires – 1884 – 2015
• Workplace Accidents & Fires:
  • Triangle Shirtwaist Factory Fire, NYC on 25 Mar 1911
  • Timeline: Deadliest Workplace Accidents

Notables

• Famous People Who Died in Fire
  • (140 listed - Many from Plane crashes of American Airlines flt 383 Crash on 8 Nov 1965 & TWA flt 128 Crash on 20 Nov 1967)
• Top 10 Actors Who Died in Fires (See this site for some bio info for each.)
  • Claude Burroughs on 5 Dec 1876 (in Brooklyn Theater fire)
  • Bobby Young on 13 Sep 1951 (aka: Robert Howard “Clifton” Young) (in home fire)
  • Gloria Dickson on 10 Apr 1945 (in home fire)
  • Linda Darnell on10 Apr 1965 (in home fire)
  • Butterfly (Thelma) McQueen on 22 Dec 1995 (in home fire)
  • Teresa Graves on 10 Oct 2002 (smoke inhalation in home fire)
  • Dennis Patrick on 13 Oct 2002 (in home fire)
  • Royce Applegate on 1 Jan 2003 (smoke inhalation in home fire)
  • Reg Evans & Angela Brunton (in 2009 Victorian bushfires)
  • Jack Cassidy on 12 Dec 1976 (in home fire) (“extensive thermal burns of the body”)
  • Charles Jones (Gebhart) on 28 Nov 1942 (Cocoanut Grove fire – died 2 days later)
  • 3 Apollo Astronauts Die in Fire:
    • New York Times article: 3 Apollo Astronauts Die in Fire
    • Wikipedia - Apollo 1
    • Virgil I “Gus” Grissom,
    • Edward H White,
    • Roger Chaffee

Additional reading links:

• http://www.nfpa.org/research/reports-and-statistics/fire-causes
• NFPA - The Consequences of Fire
• Forensic Medicine for Medical Students – Cause of Death in Fires
• Fire – Why talk about home fires?
• National Fire Protection Association - Fire loss in the US
• Fighting Fire!: Ten of the Deadliest Fires in American History and How We ... By Michael L. Cooper

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jump back to

• Unnatural Death Causes
  • Cause of death portal

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this project is in HistoryLink