Commenting on theatre fires in his December 1905 address to the American Society of Mechanical Engineers , Society President John R. Freeman found significant antecedents in the Brooklyn Theatre fire to the then-recent Iroquois Theatre fire , the 1881 Vienna Ringtheater fire and the 1887 Exeter Theatre Fire : stages crowded with scenery , an onrush of air from opening doors or windows , scant smoke vents over the stage , this giving rise to an outburst of smoke from under the proscenium arch with concomitant deadly effects upon upper gallery occupants . These observations , made twenty-nine years after the fact , resonate with those made on the night of the Brooklyn Theatre fire . Engineer Fred J. Manning , Engine Number 5 , arriving at 11:22 p.m. , testified that the scene doors were about two-thirds open , with " one or two men attempting to bring something out of these doors . " Abner C. Keeny , part owner and contractor of the building , commenting on the fire the following morning , believed that the sudden inrush of air from the scenic entrance fanned the fire and triggered its spread from the stage to the theatre at large , leading to the rapid advance of smoke onto the family circle
Iroquois Theatre fire
Iroquois Theatre fire
Brooklyn Theatre fire