Editing Cocoanut Grove fire (section)

==Fire==
[[File:Smoke rises Cocoanut Grove.jpg|thumb|right|upright=1.3|Smoke rises from the Cocoanut Grove]]
Official reports state that the fire started at about 10:15&nbsp;pm in the Melody Lounge. Goody Goodelle, a young pianist and singer, was performing on a revolving stage surrounded by artificial palm trees. The lounge was lit by low-powered light bulbs in coconut-styled sconces beneath the fronds. A young man, possibly a soldier, had unscrewed a light bulb in order to give himself and his date privacy while kissing.<ref name="BGThomas19921122">{{cite news|last=Thomas|first=Jack|date=November 22, 1992|title=The Cocoanut Grove Inferno|work=[[The Boston Globe]]|url=http://www.boston.com/news/daily/21/archives_cocoanut_112292.htm|access-date=November 6, 2015|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20030222001324/http://www.boston.com/news/daily/21/archives_cocoanut_112292.htm|archive-date=February 22, 2003|quote=The Licensing Board ruled that no Boston establishment could call itself the Cocoanut Grove.}}</ref> Stanley Tomaszewski, a 16-year-old busboy, was instructed to put the light back on by tightening the bulb. He stepped up onto a chair to reach the light in the darkened corner. Unable to see the bulb, he lit a match to illuminate the area, tightened the bulb, and extinguished the match. Witnesses first saw flames in the fronds, which were just below the ceiling, immediately afterward. Though the lit match had been close to the same fronds where the fire was seen to have begun, the official report determined that Tomaszewski's actions could not be found to be the source of the fire, which "will be entered into the records of this department as being of unknown origin."<ref name="official">{{Cite book |last1=Boston (Mass.). Fire Commissioner |url=http://archive.org/details/reportconcerning00bost |title=Report concerning the Cocoanut Grove fire, November 28, 1942 |last2=Boston (Mass.). Fire Dept |last3=Reilly |first3=William Arthur |date=1944 |publisher=[Boston, Mass. : City of Boston Printing Dept. |others=Boston Public Library}}</ref>

Despite waiters' efforts to douse the fire with water, it spread along the fronds of the palm tree decoration. In a final desperate attempt to separate the burning fronds from the fabric-covered false ceiling, the decoration was pulled away from the corner, taking with it a triangular plywood panel at the ceiling level and opening the enclosed space above the false ceiling. The fire then spread to the false ceiling which burned rapidly, showering patrons with sparks and burning shreds of fabric. Flames raced up the stairway to the main level, with embers landing on patrons fleeing up the stairs. A [[wikt:fireball|fireball]] burst through the front entryway and spread through the remaining club areas: through the adjacent Caricature Bar, down a corridor to the Broadway Lounge, and across the central restaurant and dance floor as the orchestra was beginning its evening show. Flames raced faster than patrons could move, followed by thick clouds of smoke. Within five minutes, flames and smoke had spread to the entire nightclub. Some patrons were instantly overcome by smoke as they sat in their seats. Others crawled through the smoky darkness, trying to find exits, all but one of which were either non-functioning or hidden in non-public areas.<ref name = "fire story"/>

Many patrons attempted to exit through the main entrance, the same way they had entered. The building's main entrance was a single [[revolving door]], which was rendered useless as the crowd stampeded in panic. Bodies piled up behind both sides of the revolving door, jamming it until it broke.<ref name = "Grant"/> The oxygen-hungry fire then leaped through the breach, incinerating whoever was left alive in the pile. [[Firefighter|Firemen]] had to douse the flames to approach the door.

Other avenues of escape were similarly useless; side doors had been bolted shut to prevent people from leaving without paying. A plate glass window, which could have been smashed for escape, was boarded up and unusable as an emergency exit. Other unlocked doors, like the ones in the Broadway Lounge, opened inwards, rendering them useless against the [[Crowd collapses and crushes|crush of people]] trying to escape. Fire officials would later testify that had the doors swung outwards, at least 300 lives could have been spared.<ref name="Fleming">{{Cite journal |last=Fleming |first=Daniel J |title=The Cocoanut Grove Revisited: U.S. Navy Records Document How 492 Died in a Deadly Nightclub Fire 75 Years Ago |url=https://www.archives.gov/publications/prologue/2017/fall/cocoanut-grove |date=Fall 2017 |journal=Prologue Magazine |volume=49 |issue=3 |language=en |access-date=June 20, 2023}}</ref>

From nearby bars, soldiers and sailors raced to assist. On the street, firefighters lugged out bodies and were treated for burned hands. As night deepened, the temperature dropped. Water on cobblestone pavements froze over, and hoses were fused to the ground. Newspaper trucks were appropriated as ambulances. Smoldering bodies, living and dead, were hosed in icy water. Some victims had breathed fumes so hot that when they inhaled cold air, as one firefighter put it, they dropped like stones.<ref name="BGThomas19921122"/>

Later, during the cleanup of the building, firefighters found several dead guests sitting in their seats with drinks in their hands. They had been overcome so quickly by fire and toxic smoke that they had not had time to move.<ref name = "Saffle"/>