Our Lady of the Angels School fire building as in the Great Chicago Fire of 1871. However, its interior was made almost entirely of combustible wooden materials—stairs, walls, floors, doors, roof, and cellulose fiber ceiling tiles. Moreover, the floors had been coated many times with both flammable varnish and petroleum-based waxes. There were only two (unmarked) fire alarm switches in the entire school, and they were both in the south wing. There were four fire extinguishers in the north wing, each mounted off the floor, out of reach for many adults and virtually all of the children. The single fire escape was near one end of the
Great Atlanta fire of 1917 Midtown in the 2000s). Low-income housing developments were built in the destroyed extreme southern section and the areas south of North Avenue. Some around Boulevard and Highland were eventually developed as the campus for Atlanta Medical Center. Except for where single family homes were quickly rebuilt north of Ponce de Leon, the character of this large area of Atlanta was changed forever. The next U.S. fire of more significance wouldn't occur for more than 70 years: The Oakland Hills firestorm of 1991. Great Atlanta fire of 1917 The Great Atlanta Fire of 1917 began just after noon on 21 May