FireFighterCloseCalls.com reminds us that Sunday is the 68th anniversary of the infamous Cocoanut Grove fire in Boston.

Everyone remembers the more recent Rhode Island Station Nightclub fire. The February 20, 2003 fire killed 100 people and was the fourth deadliest nightclub fire in American history.

Cocoanut Grove is number two.

On November 28, 1942, the upscale club burned to the ground, killing 492 people and injuring hundreds more. Only the Iroquois Theater fire in Chicago in 1903 was worse, killing 602 people.

Cocoanut Grove was so immense, that it pushed World War II news headlines off the front pages nationwide. See Boston.com for more information.

Here is the official Boston Fire Department report:


(From a Survivor of the Fire)


(The site of the fire, today)

About The Author

John Guilfoil is the editor-in-chief of Blast: Boston's Online Magazine and the Blast Magazine Network. He can be reached at [email protected]. Tweet @johnguilfoil.

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