Answer: The fire at the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory could certainly have been prevented with the knowledge and procedures we use today. Its death toll could have been reduced if the doors had not been locked and the switchboard on the 9th floor had been in operation. Many of these deaths could have been prevented, but due to lax fire safety laws and few labor regulations, unsafe working conditions prevailed in New York's garment factories in the early 20th century. If the owners didn't avoid implementing safety measures and they would have installed a sprinkler system and had fire drills performed and had evacuation procedures in place and if they would have kept there aisles clear and not completely blocked with big crates of blouses and goods then more people would have been able to make it out of there. They also could have checked there pre-filled buckets that were strategically hung throughout the factory daily to make sure that they were filled with water and they could have also made sure that there fire hose wasn't old and rotten and rusted shut and made sure they had a good working fire hose. The building only had one fire escape, despite needing at least three to accommodate all 500 of the factory employees. It was too narrow to allow many of the people to pass through at once. The main point of escape was a single elevator that could only hold 12 people at a time and the operator only made four trips before it broke down. And also they could have had taller ladders that reached higher than the sixth floor. There were many ways this fire could have been avoided and it's very tragic that it had to happen at all.
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