OLAFire Logo
Our Lady of the Angels (OLA) School Fire, December 1, 1958
OLA Fire Period News Articles
(These stories have been reproduced as accurately as possible from the original news reports, including original errors)
90 Die In School Fire (12/1/58)
74 Hurt, Blast Traps Scores (12/1/58)
Tough Chicago Police Weep At The Tragic, Tiny Bundles (12/1/58)
Tom Feared Sight Of Death's Mask (12/1/58)
Margaret Was a Little Girl Who Didn't Like to Be Sick (12/1/58)
Joe Wasn't Hurt, He Saw Only Horror (12/1/58)
Sobbing Nun Tells of Horror In School Fire (12/1/58)
Parish Families Seek Children (12/1/58)
Man, 74, Stricken Helping Children (12/1/58)
90 PERISH IN CHICAGO SCHOOL FIRE; 3 NUNS ARE VICTIMS; SCORES HURT; PUPILS LEAP OUT WINDOWS IN PANIC (12/1/58)
F.B.I. Ready to Assist Chicago Fire Inquire (12/1/58)
Panic Grips Classrooms; Confusion Increases Toll (12/1/58)
Everybody was Jumping (12/1/58)
List of Identified Dead In Chicago School Fire (12/1/58)
Fire Gong Tolled A Deadly Message (12/1/58)
Frantic Dad Tells Fire Rescue Role (12/1/58)
85 Youngsters Still Hospitalized; Blaze 3rd Worst In 100 Years (12/2/58)
Smoldering School Ruins Like A Cavern Of Death (12/2/58)
87 Children, 3 Nuns Die in School Fire (12/2/58)
Probers of Fire Ask: Why? (12/2/58)
Schoolboy Smoking Cigaret Might Have Touched Off Fire (12/2/58)
One Family's Story (12/2/58)
Throng Just Waits, Looks (12/2/58)
The Morgue (12/2/58)
School Fire Chicago's Worst in 55 Years (12/2/58)
β€œI'll Remember It to My Dying Day,” Says Fireman (12/2/58)
Chronology Shows Speed of Disaster (12/2/58)
Girl Recalls Burning Backs Of Classmates (12/2/58)
Chicago Presses Search for Clues to Fire At School (12/2/58)
'I Won't Give Up Hope,' Says Father (12/2/58)
Boy Who Jumped Tells of Tragedy (12/2/58)
Pope John Wires Condolences to Bereaved Kin (12/2/58)
Arson Squad to Probe Fire in School Last Year (12/2/58)
β€œIt's Just Too Much,” Laments Archbishop (12/2/58)
Hospitals Work Around Clock to Relieve Injured (12/2/58)
Other School Tragedies (12/2/58)
Moscow Says School Fire No Accident (12/2/58)
Memories of Horror Rack School Janitor (12/2/58)
How Fireman Feels Carrying Out Victims (12/3/58)
Third Worst In Nation (12/3/58)
Priests Try Vainly To Comfort Bereaved Relatives And Parents (12/3/58)
Struggle to Save Fire Survivors Continues (12/3/58)
Gigantic IFs Jolt Probers Digging Into Fire Mystery (12/3/58)
Fire Leads to School Checkups (12/3/58)
Rites Held for Nuns Killed in School Fire (12/4/58)
10,000 Mourners at Funeral Of Three Nuns Killed in Fire (12/4/58)
Mass Offered for 28 Small Victims of Fire (12/5/58)
Fire Victim's Souls Commended to God (12/5/58)
91st Chicago Victim Of School Fire Dies (12/6/58)
500 Children Face Questioning In School Fire (12/6/58)
Bereaved Families Mourn in Chicago (12/7/58)
9-Year-Old Boy Dies, Raises Chicago School Fire Toll to 92 (12/8/58)
Boy Becomes 92d Victim of Chicago Fire (12/8/58)
School Fire Horror Probed (12/11/58)
Chicago School Afire Long Before 1st Alarm (12/11/58)
Terror, Torment Related by School Fire Victims (12/13/58)
Girl Fire Victim, 9, Wonders Why Cards Have Stopped Coming (12/14/58)
Fire. Thirty-Eight O Eight Iowa...The Alarm Was Desperate, the Tragedy Incredible! (12/15/58)
Nightmare in the News (12/15/58)
Disasters - The Chicago School Fire (12/15/58)
How Safe Are The Schools (12/15/58)
Fire Hazards Found At 2 City Schools
Two Schools To Be Closed As Fire Risks
Texas School Tragedy Of 294 Dead Recalled
$50,000? So What?
Erect Fireproof School Building (11/30/59)
City Cleared As Defendant In School Fire (7/19/60)
New School Open (9/60)
Considered prime suspect in Chicago blaze (1/16/1962)
Boy Admits Fire Fatal To 95 (1/16/62)
Judge Rips Lie Tester On Boy's Story Of Fire (1/16/1966)
Cicero Won't Let Police Talk to Youth (1/16/1962)
Lad Cleared in School Fire (3/13/62)
Memories stay forever - Our Lady of Angels fire survivor (11/83)
'Born fireman' wanted to be part of the action (6/1/2003)
'Born fireman' wanted to be part of the action
By Joan Giangrasse Kate.
Special to the Tribune.
Even as he rose through the ranks, Louis A. "Bud" Miehle remained the kind of firefighter who would rather enter a burning building than give orders from the sidelines.
A member of the Chicago Fire Department for more than three decades, Mr. Miehle served from the 1940s through the '70s and assisted in many of the city's worst fires.
"Bud was a bom fireman, a Johnny-on-the-spot kind of guy, who went where the action was despite the danger to his own life," said Helen, his wife of 59 years. "He was motivated by a strong desire to help people, and in his line of work that sometimes meant saving their lives.".
Mr. Miehle, 87, of Lake Zurich, formerly of Chicago and Lake Placid, Fla., a retired deputy chief fire marshal for the Chicago department, died Tuesday May 27, in Lexington Healthcare Center in Wheeling after a heart attack.
"Bud could be hard-nosed and blunt, but he always had the respect of his crew," his wife said. "One of the hardest things for him was to have to stand by and direct a fire, when what he really wanted to do was to be right in there fighting it.".
Born in Chicago, Mr. Miehle worked for several years in the steel mills of Gary before joining the Chicago Fire Department in 1943. He became a lieutenant soon after and was stationed out of Loop and North Side firehouses for the rest of his career.
In 1958, Mr. Miehle was on the scene of the fire that destroyed the Our Lady of the Angels elementary school on the city's West Side, taking the lives of 92 children and three nuns.
"Bud wasn't one to show his emotions, but when he came home and told me about that fire, he just broke down and cried," his wife said. "He and the other firemen felt helpless, watching children scramble for their lives and jumping out of windows. He said he left a part of his heart there that day".
Mr. Miehle, who won numerous awards for his service, retired in 1979 with the rank of deputy chief fire marshal. In 1985 he moved with his wife to Lake Placid, Fla., and in 2001 the couple moved to Lake Zurich.
Other survivors include a daughter, Kathleen; a sister, Marge; three grandchildren; and three great-grandchildren.
A memorial mass will be held at 10 a.m. Monday in St. Edna Catholic Church, 2525 N. Arlington Heights Rd., Arlington Heights.