On Saturday, March 25, 1911, a fire started in a scrap bin under a cutter’s table on the 8th floor. There was of course speculation as to the fire’s origins, with an article in The New York Times suggesting it may have been caused by the engines that ran the sewing machines, and Collier’s published articles related to patterns of arson in the garment industry as products fell out of fashion. The Insurance Monitor noted that insurance for manufacturers of shirtwaists was “fairly saturated with moral hazard” since the garment had recently fallen out of fashion. The owners of the company, Blanck and Harris, had had four earlier suspicious fires at their companies, but they were not suspected of arson in this case.

The scrap bin contained cuttings accumulated over two months prior to the fire, and the Fire Marshal later concluded that the fire was likely caused by an unextinguished match or cigarette in that scrap bin. Smoking was banned in the factory, but the cutters sometimes snuck smoke breaks, exhaling cigarette smoke through their lapels. There were hundreds of pounds of scraps in the wooden bin, which was under a wooden table, and hanging fabrics surrounded it, allowing for the fire to quickly spread out of control. Once the fire broke out, a bookkeeper on the 8th floor used a telephone to call employees on the 10th, but there was no way to reach those on the 9th. There were, of course, exits, which included two freight elevators, a fire escape, and stairways to Greene Street and Washington Place. The workers were unable to use the Greene Street stairs because of the flames, and management kept the door to the Washington Place stairway locked as they wanted to keep workers from taking unauthorized breaks, stop theft, and keep union organizers out. The key was held by a foreman who had already escaped using a different route. Some workers were able to escape via the Greene Street stairway, fleeing to the roof. Others packed themselves into the elevators while they were still operational. The fire escape was flimsy and not properly anchored to the building. Workers crowded onto it to flee the flames, and it collapsed with the heat and weight; 20 victims fell to their death on the concrete below.

The first fire alarm was sounded by a passerby who saw smoke pouring from the 8th-floor window. Although the fire department arrived quickly, their ladder could only reach the 7th floor. Joseph Zito and Gaspar Mortillaro, the elevator operators, were able to help many people get to safety as they traveled three times to the 9th floor, but the rails of Mortillaro’s elevator buckled with the heat. Zito was unable to use his elevator after people pried open the doors and tried to slide down the cables or jump into the empty shaft, which warped the car and made it unusable.

People began to jump from the windows to escape the fire; 62 men and women jumped or fell to their deaths. All told, 146 garment workers died, 123 women and 23 men. They ranged in age from 14 to 43.

When the fire broke out, both owners were at the factory with their children. They were able to flee to safety on the roof and were followed by some of the workers. One of these women, Rose Freedman, was almost 18 on the day of the fire, and she became a lifelong supporter of unions as a result of her experience. The last living survivor, she died at 107, on February 15, 2001.  

Both owners were indicted on charges of first- and second-degree manslaughter, but they were found not guilty. They were, however, found liable of wrongful death in a civil suit in 1913 and had to pay the plaintiffs $75 for each victim. Incidentally, their insurance company paid Blanck and Harris $60,000 more than their reported losses, which amounted to approximately $400 per victim. Blanck was arrested again in 1913 for locking the factory door during working hours and was fined only $20. After the fire, the New York State Legislature created the Factory Investigating Commission, and New York State became one of the leaders in labor reform. One of the witnesses, Frances Perkins, would start to work towards reform. She would later be appointed United States Secretary of Labor, making her the first female Cabinet member.