At the time I was a student at a Catholic grammar school with two buildings, one old like the OLA school, one newer, but with high ceilings and a long drop from the 2nd floor. I remember thinking about a fire starting in the basement and coming up the stairs. I wasn't forming any cogent fire escape plan or anything; I was 12, and there were just those images. I had never read much detail until recently, and had been personally holding to a version wherein all the victims were killed quickly at their desks from smoke. I guess that's what I wanted to believe. The OLA fire is a worse injustice to its victims than those hideous night club fires that seem to come along once every few years. The OLA kids had no choice about putting themselves into that firetrap.
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