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{{short description|1929 fire in Cleveland, Ohio}}
{{Infobox news event
|title = <!-- Title to display, if other than page name -->
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|time = 11:30 AM
|place = [[Cleveland Clinic]], [[Cleveland]], [[Ohio]], U.S.
|coordinates = {{Coord|41.503146|-81.621946|display=inline,title|region:US-OH_type:landmark}}
|also known as =
|first reporter =
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|reported death(s) = 123
|reported missing =
|reported property damage = {{USD|50000}} ({{
|burial =
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== Disaster ==
[[File:Xray file room after disaster 1929 A6159.jpg|right|thumb|The
The Cleveland Clinic is a non-profit Ohio corporation, founded in 1921 by four physicians. On May 15, 1929, which was a Wednesday, the four-story Clinic building on Euclid Avenue was bustling with physicians, nurses, employees and patients, busy with the work of the Clinic's medical-surgical practice. Some 250 people were estimated to be in the building that day.
The Cleveland Clinic is a non-profit Ohio corporation, founded in 1921 by four physicians. Late in the morning of May 15, 1929, an exposed lightbulb came too close to and ignited some nitrocellulose x-ray film. The burning film quickly produced a significant amount of poisonous gas, causing victims to inhale [[phosgene]]<ref >{{cite web|url=https://case.edu/ech/articles/c/cleveland-clinic-disaster|title=CLEVELAND CLINIC DISASTER, Encyclopedia of Cleveland History|accessdate=2021-11-01}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1929/05/19/91786202.html|title=YALE THOWS LIGHT ON EFFECTS OF GASSES, New York Times, May 19,1929|accessdate=2021-11-01}}</ref>, [[carbon monoxide]], [[nitric oxide]], and [[methyl chloride]]. Their faces turned yellowish-brown within minutes as they suffocated.<ref name="gen" /> Further complicating response to the fire, nitrocellulose continues to burn even while immersed in water and fighting the film-fueled fire simply caused more poisonous smoke to accumulate, raising the death toll.<ref name="hse">[http://www.hse.gov.uk/pubns Health and Safety Executive leaflet/cellulose.pdf]</ref>▼
A steam leak had been discovered in the basement room where the Clinic's voluminous X-ray film records, estimated to be at least {{convert|4200|lbs}}{{nbsp}}– possibly as much as {{convert|10000|lbs}}{{nbsp}}– were stored.<ref name="NBFU">{{cite web|url=http://clevelandmemory.contentdm.oclc.org/digital/collection/general/id/280/rec/1|title=Report on the Cleveland Clinic Fire, May 15, 1929|accessdate=2022-05-13}}</ref> A steamfitter began repairs at 9 a.m., stripped some of the insulation from the steam pipes, then left the building to turn off the steam and allow the pipe to cool down sufficiently so that the repair could be completed safely. A few hours later, around 11 a.m., he returned to the X-ray storage room, and encountered a noxious cloud of yellowish-brown gas. After a futile attempt to control the fire with a fire extinguisher, a small explosion, the first of several, expelled him from the room. He and a maintenance man working in the basement's adjacent mechanical room raised the initial alarm.
A first explosion came at a few seconds past 11:30 am; a clock on the third floor balcony stopped at that time. After the hollow center of the building was filled with poisonous gas, a second explosion shattered a [[skylight]] and sent the vapors into every corner of the clinic. Many of the building occupants succumbed to the poisons.<ref name="gen" />▼
▲The
Three theories were advanced for the initial ignition of the films: a high temperature steam leak from the pipe being repaired on the day of the fire destabilizing the films, inadvertent contact from a bare, hanging light bulb, or, possibly, a discarded, incompletely extinguished cigarette. A formal review by the National Board of Fire Underwriters found all three credible.<ref name="NBFU" />
▲A
The first alarm reached the fire department shortly after the explosion at 11:30 a.m. The responding fire company subsequently called in two other fire units to battle the fire. Initially, the building's windows were obscured by the toxic gas. It was not until the second large explosion blew out the skylight, and the gas began to dissipate, that the fire companies realized how many people were still in the building. Efforts to rescue the injured and recover the dying proceeded apace. By 1:15 p.m., the fire was extinguished and the building was empty.<ref name="NBFU" />
== Aftermath ==
The four story original clinic building, the site of so much disaster, though literally overshadowed by many newer surrounding hospital and research facilities, still stands. Under the current (as of 2022) CCF naming system it is designated building "T."<ref>{{cite web |title=Cleveland Clinic Main Campus Map |url=https://my.clevelandclinic.org/-/scassets/files/org/patients-visitors/visitors/campus-map.pdf?la=en |website=my.clevelandclinic.org |publisher=Cleveland Clinic Foundation |access-date=4 September 2022}}</ref> The building's lobby contains a small exhibit memorializing the 1929 fire.
Despite the heavy loss of life, firemen estimated the property damage at only {{citation needed span|text=$50,000|reason=The inflation footnote backs up only the conversion rate, not the dollar amount.|date=October 2023}} ({{Inflation|index=US|value=50000|start_year=1929|fmt=eq|r=-3}}{{inflation-fn|US}}).
According to investigators, the Cleveland Clinic was not at fault for the fire. Nonetheless, the disaster was responsible for influencing significant changes to firefighting techniques. The city of Cleveland issued gas masks to its fire departments and proposed a city ambulance service.<ref name="ohc"/> Nationally, the disaster prompted medical facilities to establish standards for the storage of nitrocellulose film and other hazardous materials.<ref name="ohc"/>
Some historians have argued that the Cleveland Clinic fire was also a catalyst for the development of non-flammable, non-toxic [[chlorofluorocarbon]] refrigerants. Nevertheless, most of the deaths were from breathing carbon monoxide and nitric oxide rather than methyl chloride itself, and even at the time of the disaster chemical companies were aware of the hazards of existing refrigerants.<ref>Giunta, Carmen Lee; '[[Thomas Midgley Jr.]] and the Invention of Cholorofluocarbon refrigerants: It Ain't Necessarily So'; ''Bulletin of Historical Chemistry''; volume 31, Number 2 (2006); pp. 66-74</ref>
== Notes ==
{{notelist}}
== References ==
{{reflist|2}}{{Cleveland Clinic}}
[[Category:1929 fires in the United States]]
[[Category:Fires in Ohio]]
[[Category:1920s in Cleveland]]
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[[Category:May 1929 events]]
[[Category:1929 disasters in the United States]]
[[Category:Nitrate-film fires in the United States]]
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