School Fires

Model School Crisis Management Plan by Virginia Department of Education

1908 March 4th. USA, Ohio, Collinwood, Lakeview Elementary School: a fire at around 9:30 a.m. destroyed the wooden structure in Collinwood, a city of 8,000 people 7 miles northeast of Cleveland; 174 children and two teachers were killed

1923 May 17th. USA, South Carolina, Beulah, Cleveland School: during a school play with more than 300 people in the audience a lamp fell down and started a fire; 77 people died, 47 of them were under the age of 18

1924 December 24th. -- USA, Oklahoma, Hobart, Babb Switch School; 35 people died during a stage performance of the annual Christmas songfest a candle felt into the branches of the Christmas tree causing it to burst into flames in the one-room schoolhouse; 36 people, mostly small children died.

1937, March 18th. USA, Texas, New London: explosion and subsequent fire in a school building due to a gas leak in the heating system; 500 people, mostly children, died

1958 December 1st. USA, Chicago, Fire at "Our Lady of the Angels" school, 90 pupils and 3 nuns died

2002 March - Saudi Arabia, Makkah: fire in a three-story secondary school; 15 schoolgirls died and at least 50 were injured

2002 December - India, Haryana state: school fire; about 400 people died

2003 April 7th. Russia, Siberian Republic of Yakutia, Sydybal: a fire broke out in a two-story wooden building in the remote village 3,000 miles East of Moskow; at the time more than 120 students and teacher were inside the school; at least 22 people died (21 students between the ages of 11 and 18 and one teacher) another 10 were injured.

2003 April 10th. Russia, Makhachkala; Fire broke out in a two-story deaf boarding school that housed students between the ages of 6 and 14; at least 28 children died and 17 others were seriously injured; 138 children were rescued by being thrown from second-story windows onto mattresses and other bedding used to break their fall or by older children leading younger students. Some other children were later found cowering under furniture.

The school staff attempted initially to put out the flames themselves, delaying a call to the fire department by at least nine minutes, according to emergency officials.
According to a newspaper report 700 fires damaged school buildings across Russia in 2002.

2004, July 16th - India, southern Tamil Nadu state, Kumbaknonam: a fire caused by a circuit in a kitchen in the primary section of the Lord Krishna school and quickly spread throughout the building in the city of Kumbakonam, located 300km (185 miles) south-west of state capital Madras. About 200 children were in the complex when the blaze started around 11 a.m. local time. The roof collapsed onto children who were struggling to escape the school's narrow corridors. More than 84 pupils died, 100 others were injured.

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