The death toll from last week’s fire at a converted warehouse in Oakland, California is at 36 but may go higher, as crews continue to search through the debris for more victims.
Electricity plays a major role in our daily lives but we can often take its power and the convenience it provides, along with its potential for fire-related hazards, for granted. That is why the National Fire Protection Association (NFPA) actively supports National Electrical Safety Month, an annual campaign sponsored by the Electrical Safety Foundation International (ESFI), which works to raise awareness of potential home electrical hazards and the importance of electrical fire safety during the month of May.
A building near Manhattan’s Washington Square is the current home of New York University’s science labs, but a little more than a century ago, it was the site of one of the nation’s worst workplace disasters – and there’s a movement afoot to make sure that history is not forgotten.