The Associated Press
A look at some of the deadliest nursing home fires in U.S. history:
— Nov. 27, 2006: Eleven people died in a fire at the Anderson Guest House in Anderson, Missouri, a care home for the elderly and mentally ill. The home had smoke alarms but no sprinklers.
— Sept. 25, 2003: A fire killed 16 people at the NHC Healthcare Center in Nashville, Tennessee. The facility met all codes but had no automatic sprinkler system.
— Feb. 26, 2003: A mentally disabled woman set fire to the Greenwood Health Center in Hartford, Connecticut, killing 16 people. The nursing home had no automatic sprinkler system.
— April 2, 1979: An overnight blaze at a residential care center in Farmington, Missouri, with only one staff member on duty killed 25 of the 37 residents.
— Jan. 30, 1976: A fire at the Wincrest Nursing Home in Chicago killed 23 of the 83 patients.
— Jan. 9, 1970: A fire at a convalescent home in Marietta, Ohio, with no sprinklers or smoke alarms killed 31 of the 46 patients.
— Nov. 23, 1963: Overshadowed in the news by the assassination of President Kennedy, a fire at the Golden Age Nursing Home in Fitchville, Ohio, killed 63 of the 84 residents. Investigators later blamed faulty wiring and found the nursing home didn’t have an evacuation plan.
— Feb. 17, 1957: A fire at the Katie Jane Memorial Home in Warrenton, Missouri, killed 72 people.
— March 29, 1953: A fire at the Littlefield Nursing Home in Largo, Florida, killed 33, including 32 of the 57 patients and a nurse who ran back inside to try to rescue others.
— Oct. 31, 1952: Twenty people died in a fire at the Cedar Grove nursing home in Hillsboro, Missouri.
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Sources: Associated Press News Research Center, news archives, National Fire Protection Center
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