| It was a cold Christmas Eve
in 1924 in Babbs Switch, Oklahoma, a small town located about
six miles south of Hobart in Kiowa County. Parents and their
children came to the local school for the Christmas program
and for the children to see Santa Claus.
Babbs Switch was a rural town. Besides the schoolhouse,
there were only three other buildings - a grain elevator, a
filling station, and a general store.
The school building was small, only twenty-six
feet wide and thirty-six feet long, and that was after it had
been enlarged in 1910. When it was originally constructed in
1902, the school had been only eighteen wide and twenty-four
feet long.
Even after the enlargement, it was still just
a one-room school in which the first through the eighth grades
were taught.
In 1922 the building had been damaged by a wind
storm, and when it was repaired, the windows had been covered
with heavy screening to prevent vandalism and to protect the
windows from wind damage. And not long before that Christmas
Eve, the school had received a fresh coat of paint that had
been thinned with turpentine.
On that fateful night, more than 200 people
had crammed into the tiny room to see the Christmas program.
A Christmas tree with presents underneath for the children stood
in the room, covered with red and green tallow candles and cotton
decorations.
After the program was over, Santa began passing
out presents to the children. In reaching for a present, one
of the limbs was jostled, just enough that one of the cotton
decorations caught fire.
Several people rushed forward to snuff out the
fire, but the tree was so dry that it caught fire and began
to burn rapidly, filling the room with smoke. As the flames
climbed up the tree and out of reach, someone pushed the tree
over in an attempt to reach the fire, but the fire spread even
faster.
People immediately began exiting the building,
but the entry doors swung in, not out. Somehow, the doors had
swung partially shut, and the people remaining inside pressed
against them with such force that they were unable to open them
fully.
Finding themselves trapped, many people attempted
to escape through the windows, but the heavy screening was too
difficult to remove.
Others managed to escape through the partial
opening at the doorway, but in the panic, trampled others to
death.
In less than two minutes, the room flashed over
as the room became an inferno. Undoubtedly the fresh turpentine
contributed to the rapid spread of the fire and the intense
heat. One can only imagine the horror of being trapped in such
an environment as everything in the room began to burn, including
clothing and hair.
Thirty-two people died in the blaze, and many
others were badly burned or injured. Four more died later as
the result of their injuries. Twenty of the dead were children,
and several entire families were killed.
The impact of the fire was felt all over the
country. Building codes for public buildings were enacted that
addressed many of the factors that contributed to the high death
toll.
Candles on Christmas trees were prohibited.
Exit doors would be required to swing in the
direction of egress, out not in, so that when a crowd pressed
against the doors, the doors would remain open.
Two exits would be required, so that if one
becomes obstructed, there would still be an alternate route
of escape.
Windows would be required to be operable and
unobstructed by screening or steel grates.
In Oklahoma, the governor, state superintendent
and the state fire marshall began to enforce these changes.
In addition, they required the proper use of gasoline lamps
and required faulty heating systems to be repaired.
The Babbs Switch school was rebuilt in 1925,
and operated until 1943. The town is now a ghost town, with
only the grain elevator, a small public park, and a memorial
to the dead remaining.
Most people have never heard of the Babbs Switch
fire. I had never heard of it until just a few years ago. But
it was out of that tragedy that thousands of other lives have
been saved because of the safety improvements that were forced
throughout the country.
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