One of the earliest memories I can recall as a child, was of this fire. I can vaguely remember seeing it on the news and my parents talking about it at the time. It shocked me, and left an impression on me that I would never forget. I was born in 1952, and was in first grade at the time of the fire. I was six. Several years earlier, another tragic school fire occurred within a mile of where we lived in the town of Cheektowaga, a suburb of Buffalo, New York. That fire killed 15 elementary school students in a newly built wooden annex at Cleveland Hill Schools. Apparently, an influx of many new students resulted in the building of the annex, which held 8 classrooms. Only one class was in session at the time of the fire, or it may have been even worse. It was a single story structure, but fire spread quickly through the hallway and students couldn't get the exterior paned windows to open. It occurred on Mar 31, 1954. I was too young to remember much about that fire, but my parents told me about it some time later, and we drove by where the annex once stood. Anyway, for some reason, I decided to research the Buffalo fire the other day, and came across this site about the OLA fire. I ended up getting the book on the OLA fire and reading it, as well as most of the information on this site. Like for many people I'm sure, these tragic fires and other events made up a small part of what I can recall about growing up as a child. I'd like to thank the webmaster for creating this site in memory of the children who lost their lives in the OLA fire; going through the memorial pages and seeing the faces of those children brought tears to my eyes even after so many years. If anyone reading this can recall anything about the Buffalo fire, I'd be interested in hearing from you. Thanks, Robert.
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