Udec Corporation

Historical Moment: The 1957 Katie Jane Nursing Home Fire.

A fire, considered the worst ever at a U.S. nursing home, killed 72 patients at the Katie Jane Nursing Home in Warrenton, Missouri on February 17, 1957.

It started on a Sunday afternoon in a linen closet on the first floor of the annex, one of two buildings housing 149 people. The cause of the blaze still remains a mystery and not known if arson, outdated electrical equipment, or a resident’s smoking was responsible.

It was a Sunday afternoon when a niece visiting her uncles noticed smoke drifting by their room. The woman went to investigate and saw fire shooting out of a wall near the closet. She immediately ran through the building, screaming “Fire!”, but when she returned to help rescue her uncles, it was too late. The dense smoke was too much.

Although townspeople ran to help, the building went up in flames too fast. Screams and cries of elderly patients trapped in the home were quickly stilled by flames which engulfed the 2-1/2 story brick building within minutes.

Police and firemen reported that the two-story brick buildings were engulfed in flames by the time they arrived at the scene within 20 minutes; their efforts too futile to make a difference. They determined that the fire was aided by the wood in the building, which was more than 50 years old and “dry as a tinderbox.”

The home had no evacuation plan, no alarm system to warn residents, no fire escapes and no sprinkler system. Bed patients were housed on upper floors and some of the patients were locked in their rooms. The conditions were commonplace at nursing homes at that time.

Reports claim that the owner Woodrow S. O’Sullivan, who was devasted at the loss of life, ran a good facility.

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