HARTFORD, Conn. (WTNH) – A deadly circus fire that claimed the lives of 168 people was remembered at a ceremony Saturday.
The Hartford Fire Department held a remembrance ceremony at the Hartford Circus Fire Memorial behind the Wish School on Barbour Street.
Barbara Wallis Felgate said she was there on July 6, 1944, attending the Ringling Brothers Barnum & Bailey Circus with her family. She was just 5 years old.
"I noticed a flicker of light and I looked to see what it was, and it was a fire on the side of the tent," she said. "And I remember thinking, how can a fire start in the middle of the wall?"
She remembers another act was starting when she saw flames.
"It got really quiet. Three sailors came running down through the tent yelling 'fire, fire, fire.' But nobody moved it seemed."
She then recalls pandemonium breaking out as people rushed to find an exit. Felgate said her dad held up a loose flap of the tent. It was a narrow escape for her and her family.
"I remember looking back for one moment over his shoulder and seeing the fire right there," she said. "It was so hot."
Many of the 168 people killed were women and children. Members of the fire department laid a rose for each victim on the center plaque.
The flames quickly spread partly because the circus tent was covered in paraffin wax thinned with gasoline. It was a popular waterproofing method of the time.
Jose Rivera, aHartford Fire Special Services Unit Captain, said the fire code has changed a lot since then.
"The materials that are being used for tents, egress issues, making sure we have an adequate amount of exits, not just for circuses, but for any assembly where a lot of people are going to congregate, that way everyone is able to get out safely," he said.