Room 201 - Sister Mary Andrienne Corolan, BVM

Class Size Fatalities Injured Escaped 70 0 0 70  % 0 % 0 % 100 %

Sister Andrienne Corolan's quick reaction to the invasion of smoke in the south wing hallway allowed all of her students to escape the school unharmed. The smoke was so thick in the halls and eventually the classrooms, that about 15 students could not see to escape. Sister Andrienne ran back into the suffocating smoke, located her remaining students and led them through the blinding, poisonous smoke to safety and clean air outside.

Room 205 - Dorothy Coughlan

Class Size Fatalities Injured Escaped ? 0 0 ?  % 0 % 0 % 100 %

After conferring with teacher Pearl Tristano in room 206, Coughlan and Tristano successfully led their students out of the school to safety. Initially, they waited briefly while trying to locate the school principal, who was substituting for an absent teacher, before taking the initiative and leading their students to safety outside the building. Their willingness to act contrary to the strict school rules (leaving without the principal's approval) saved many lives.

Room 206 - Pearl Tristano

Class Size Fatalities Injured Escaped ? 0 0 ?  % 0 % 0 % 100 %

While no children or staff were killed in room 206, this is the room from which a 10-year-old boy was excused to go to the restroom at about 2 pm, a few minutes before the fire started in the basement. Several years later, when this boy was 13, he finally confessed to setting the fire in the trash barrel in the basement of Our Lady of the Angels. But in court, he recanted the confession, and neither he, nor anyone was ever prosecuted for the deadly fire.

Room 207 - Sister Mary Geraldita Ennis, BVM
Class Size Fatalities Injured Escaped 40 0 1 39  % 0 % 2 % 98 %	Everyone escaped from room 207 (but just barely) thanks to the heroic efforts of the school janitor, James Raymond and a parish priest, Father Charles Hund, who unlocked the emergency exit door(!) of the room and led children to the fire escape just yards away. Everyone escaped and the only injury was to a boy who jumped from a window to the fire escape.

Room 208 - Sister Mary St. Canice Lyng, BVM

Class Size Fatalities Injured Escaped 47 13 14 20  % 28 % 30 % 43 % Name Age   Sister Mary St. Canice Lyng 44   Helen Buziak 12   Bernice Cichocki 12   Rosalie Ciminello 12   Patricia Drzymala 12   Mary Fanale 12   James Moravec 12   Mary Moretti 12   Lorraine Nieri 12   Edward Pikinski 11   Nancy Riche 12   Philip Tampone 11   Christina Vitacco 12

In the alley on the north side of the school, neighbors raced home and brought ladders in hopes of rescuing students through classroom windows. Of the numerous ladders in the alley prior to the arrival of the fire department, only one, placed at one of room 208's windows, was long enough to reach the second floor windows. This ladder, and some men on it, allowed many children escape from Room 208 and no doubt accounted for the relatively low death rate in this room. But Sister Canice Lyng stayed to the end and died along with 12 of her students when fire and suffocating smoke engulfed the room, killing all who remained.

Room 209 - Sister Mary Davidis Devine, BVM

Class Size Fatalities Injured Escaped 55 2 7 46  % 4 % 13 % 84 % Name Age   Beverly Burda 13   Valerie Thoma 13

The very low death rate in room 209 was the result of three factors. First, the teacher, Sister Davidis Devine, ordered the children to quickly stack books in front of the cracks around the doors, slowing the suffocating smoke's entry into the room. Second, Reverend Joseph Ognibene and parent Sam Tortorice worked together to swing children from room 209's rear window into a window in the annex. Third, there was a porch cover below one of the windows of room 209 onto which children could scramble and drop to the ground. The only fatalities were two girls, one who was apparently either overcome by smoke or so paralyzed with fear that she could not climb out the window in time, and another who died in the hospital months later of her burn injuries.

Room 210 - Sister Mary Seraphica Kelley, BVM

Class Size Fatalities Injured Escaped 57 28 15 14  % 49 % 26 % 25 % Name Age   Sister Mary Seraphica Kelley 43   Peter Cangelosi 9   Kathleen Carr 9   Margaret Chambers 9   Joan Ann Chiappetta 10   Joan Chrzas 9   Roseanna Ciochon 9   Nancy DeSanto 9   Lucille Filipponio 8   Janet Gasteier 9   Victor Jacobellis 9   Diane Karwacki 9   Richard Kompanowski 10   Joseph Modica, Jr. 9   Charles Neubert 9   Yvonne Pacini 9   Elaine Pesoli 9   Mary Pettenon 9   James Profita 9   James Ragona 9   Diane Santangelo 9   Joanne Sarno 9   Kurt Schutt 9   James Sickels 10   Paul Silvio 9   Susan Smaldone 9   Linda Stabile 9   Mark Stachura 9

Many of the little bodies in this room were found badly burned - four were burned beyond recognition. This being the only fourth grade classroom on the second floor north wing, children in this room were smaller and weaker than those in the other burned rooms. The 37 inch high window sills were too high for some of the children to climb over, especially in the midst of the chaos and panic. The larger and stronger children were able to reach the window sills and shove the smaller children aside. Thus, many of the smaller children were trapped behind rows and rows of children crowded at the windows, and never had a chance to escape. Finally fire exploded into the room, killing all who remained. Firemen found children piled up around Sister Kelley, desperately clinging to her during their last few seconds of life.

Room 211 - Sister Mary Helaine O'Neill, BVM

Class Size Fatalities Injured Escaped 64 24 17 23  % 38 % 27 % 36 % Name Age   Michele Altobell 13   Richard Bobrowicz 13   Aurelius Chiappetta, Jr. 14   Millicent Corsiglia 13   William Edington, Jr. 13   Nancy Finnigan 14   Ronald Fox 14   Carol Gazzola 13   Lawrence Grasso, Jr. 13   Frances Guzaldo 13   Kathleen Hagerty 13   Karen Hobik 13   Angeline Kalinowski 14   Kenneth Kompanowski 14   Rose LaPlaca 13   Raymond Makowski 12   Janet Olechowski 13   Eileen Pawlik 13   Nancy Pilas 12   Roger Ramlow 13   William Sarno 13   Mary Tamburrino 13   John Trotta 13   Mary Virgilio 15

Firemen arrived mere minutes too late for many of the students in room 211. Fireman Charles Kamin, atop a ladder at one of room 211's windows, picked up boys (because he could quickly grab their belts and lift them) and swung them out the window, dropping them on the ladder. Some failed to grab hold and fell 25 feet to the sidewalk below. Many were injured in the fall, but at least they were alive. After Kamin had rescued 8 children, the air in room 211 reached ignition temperature. Before his eyes, the entire room erupted in flames, quick becoming an inferno from which no one else would escape. Kamin was forever haunted by the memory of seeing the remaining children in room 211 die as he watched helplessly from the window. It was so hot that they collapsed and died instantly. Most bodies in this room were badly burned, some nearly beyond recognition.

Room 212 - Sister Mary Clare Therese Champagne, BVM

Class Size Fatalities Injured Escaped 55 28 21 6  % 51 % 38 % 11 % Name Age   Sister Mary Clare Therese Champagne 27   Robert Anglim 9   Karen Baroni 10   David Biscan 10   George Cannella, III 10   Jo Ann Ciolino 10   Karen Culp 10   Maria DeGiulio 11   Lawrence Dunn, Jr. 10   Richard Hardy 9   Barbara Hosking 10   John Jajkowski, Jr. 10   Joseph King 10   Margaret Kucan 10   Patricia Kuzma 10   Annette LaMantia 10   Joseph Maffiola 10   Linda Malinski 10   John Manganello 10   John Mele 10   Antoinette Patrasso 11   Carolyn Perry 10   Frank Piscopo 10   Marilyn Reeb 10   Margaret Sansonetti 10   Antoinette Secco 10   Nancy Smid 10   Wayne Wisz 10

Everyone who perished inside room 212 died from asphyxiation, including Sister Therese Champagne. As firemen began to subdue the fire, this was the first fire-zone classroom they were able to enter in their desperate search for survivors. When they entered this classroom, they were horrified to find that although the fire had barely penetrated the room, all those remaining were dead. A number of children were piled up below the windows, and many more were huddled near the front of the room, with Sister Champagne draped over them in a vain attempt to protect them. Sister Champagne died with her students, waiting for a rescue that came too late.