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KOMPAS.com – Today, 94 years ago, January 9, 1927 to be exact, was a dark day for some in Montreal, Quebec, Canada.
At that time, Tuesday afternoon, a theater caught fire and left 78 people dead, mostly children.
To throw Montreal Gazette (9/1/2019), the unfortunate incident happened at the Laurier Palace Theater.
#OnThisDay in 1927, the tragic fire of the Laurier Palace Theater which claimed the lives of 78 young people. Montreal, Quebec, Canada https://t.co/cIzI6s2rPZ pic.twitter.com/19VEPla0h7
– Mass (@RoyaleVision) Jan. 9, 2018
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Hundreds of children
Before the incident, there were hundreds of children in the theater watching a silent or silent film produced by an American film company.
The film is called “Get ‘Em Young”.
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Most of these children, in fact almost all of them, watched unaccompanied adults, although current regulations prohibited children under 16 from watching movies without assistance.
The fire broke out on the balcony floor. As mentioned earlier, 78 people upstairs have died, most of them children who are still in elementary school or young adolescents.
History through our eyes: January 9, 1927, fire at the Laurier Palace Theater https://t.co/y300Py1jvo pic.twitter.com/jRJyCyhhX1
– Montreal Gazette (@mtlgazette) January 9, 2019
They died from inhaling smoke and were trampled on when a crowd reached the exit on the east side of the building.
Mentioned in the page Montreal Civil Security Center, most of the dead were found on the stairs between the balcony and the lobby.
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It is believed that the cause of the fire started from a cigarette butt, this incident was later referred to as the saddest fire that has ever occurred.
Firefighters and police attended the scene immediately after receiving the report. They handled the fire and recorded everything about the incident.
#OnThisDay 1927: tragic #Fire in # Montreal kills 78 children at the Laurier Palace #theater #Firefighters # Canada150 https://t.co/KX72VzlB4X pic.twitter.com/AeugVL6gwh
– LibraryArchivesCanada (@LibraryArchives) Jan. 9, 2017
A photo taken after the fire was extinguished shows the shattered state of the theater’s balcony.
At the same time, a number of people were seen running with anxious faces towards the place. They are parents of one or more children, including children who were in the theater when the fire broke out.
There are two families who lost 3 children due to this incident.
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Cinema emergency exit rules
Today in history: 78 people killed at the Palais Laurier theater in Montreal. https://t.co/0tCwMdXvj5 pic.twitter.com/k0qwvkcAoX
– MSN Canada (@MSNca) Jan. 9, 2018
Following this incident, the Quebec government enacted a law that strictly prohibits all children under the age of 16 from watching movies.
In addition, for theater providers, the law also requires the construction of exits open to the outside.
This provision applies until 1961.
Estimate Reddit, the Roman Catholic Church also recommended the law until it became the basis for the rules of modern cinema today.
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