The American Shakespeare Theatre Fire, Stratford, Connecticut

摘要

THE AMERICAN SHAKESPEARE Theatre opened in July 1955 in Stratford, Connecticut, and many notable actors and actresses had performed there over the years. The six-story structure of mostly ordinary construction (Type 3) and some fire-resistive (Type 2) construction featured a teakwood exterior over a masonry and unprotected steel superstructure. The theatre was in a densely populated residential neighborhood of mostly wood-frame dwellings. Two marinas and several multiple dwellings were in close proximity to the Elm Street structure. The weather was partly cloudy with winds from the northwest between five and 15 miles per hour. The temperature at the start of the fire was 21℉ and fell to 19℉. The Stratford 911 Center began receiving calls reporting the American Shakespeare Theatre was in flames at about 12:53 a.m. on January 13, 2019. The Stratford Fire Department (SFD) dispatched a commercial structure fire response at 12:54 a.m. consisting of three engines, one truck, one shift commander, and one rescue. First-due Engine 1 was on a first responder emergency medical services (EMS) call in its first-due area and unavailable but was able to guickly clear the run once EMS transport arrived. This now constituted a full shift response for the on-duty SFD members with 24 personnel.