Fire Leads to School Checkups |
WASHINGTON, Dec. 3 - (AP) - Schools in many parts of the nation were being rechecked anew for fire hazards Wednesday in the wake of the Chicago blaze which took 90 lives. |
Numerous steps to insure safety for children were instituted, including new fire drill procedures. |
Some cities, such as New York, St. Louis and Pittsburgh, were sending officials to Chicago for a first-hand account of what authorities had learned there. California was doing likewise. |
At New Haven, Conn., city officials announced that they are placing school fire prevention and evacuation procedures under direct supervision of the fire department. |
In Kansas City a special new check of schools was being made by a team of 30 inspectors. |
Both New York state and city authorities ordered sweeping new safety surveys. |
Meanwhile in Chicago anguished parents prepared to bury their 87 children who with three nuns died in Chicago's worst school fire, the puzzling cause of the fiery catastrophe still plagued investigators. |
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As the search for clues went on, plans for a single funeral for the children were announced by church officials. |
Seventy-five of the injured still required hospitalization. Two of them were nuns and one a school janitor. Eleven children were in critical condition. |
Their battle was made easier by the overwhelming response to appeals for blood and even skin for grafts. Calls from prospective blood donors across the country were so great that many were told to call later in the week, and even after. |
In the morgue, three charred bodies still lay unidentified. Three girls were missing but hopeful parents refused to believe the victims where their daughters. |