Before regular fire drills were instituted , a fire that had a major impact broke out at the private Catholic school Our Lady of the Angels in 1958 , in Chicago , Illinois , US . Children on the second floor were trapped there , with neither teachers nor pupils knowing how to get out of the building safely . Many children jumped out of windows , and many were killed as they could not make their way to an exit . Although the school had passed a fire inspection two months before , and had the number of fire exits and fire extinguishers required at the time , it lacked smoke detectors or adequate fire alarms , and was overcrowded
Our Lady of the Angels in 1958
Our Lady of the Angels School fire
Fire drill