1 00:00:00,120 --> 00:00:01,920 Speaker 1: This Day in History Class is a production of I 2 00:00:02,040 --> 00:00:10,720 Speaker 1: Heart Radio, Hello and Welcome to This Day in History Class, 3 00:00:10,720 --> 00:00:14,240 Speaker 1: a show that honors the dead by sharing their stories 4 00:00:14,320 --> 00:00:18,400 Speaker 1: with the living. I'm Gay Bluesier, and Today our week 5 00:00:18,480 --> 00:00:21,720 Speaker 1: of chilling tales continues with a look at the killer 6 00:00:21,840 --> 00:00:25,599 Speaker 1: smog that tormented a small American town in the late 7 00:00:25,680 --> 00:00:39,200 Speaker 1: nineteen forties. The day was Tuesday, October. An ominous yellow 8 00:00:39,320 --> 00:00:43,880 Speaker 1: fog descends on the town of Dinorah, Pennsylvania, and over 9 00:00:43,920 --> 00:00:47,480 Speaker 1: the next five days leading up to Halloween, it would 10 00:00:47,560 --> 00:00:53,400 Speaker 1: leave twenty people dead and thousands more seriously ill. As 11 00:00:53,440 --> 00:00:57,920 Speaker 1: the week progressed, the fog grew denser, blanketing the entire 12 00:00:58,040 --> 00:01:02,440 Speaker 1: town and surrounding area, making it nearly impossible to see. 13 00:01:03,240 --> 00:01:06,959 Speaker 1: By Wednesday, the air was reportedly so thick that you 14 00:01:06,959 --> 00:01:09,400 Speaker 1: could hold your hand in front of your face and 15 00:01:09,480 --> 00:01:14,600 Speaker 1: not see the tips of your fingers. On October, citizens 16 00:01:14,600 --> 00:01:18,520 Speaker 1: attending the Dinorah Halloween parade could barely make out the 17 00:01:18,600 --> 00:01:23,120 Speaker 1: hazy figures that passed them in the streets. Meanwhile, the 18 00:01:23,160 --> 00:01:25,559 Speaker 1: high school football team played its end of the week 19 00:01:25,600 --> 00:01:29,479 Speaker 1: game as scheduled, but the player's vision was so obscured 20 00:01:29,720 --> 00:01:32,399 Speaker 1: that they could only run with the ball rather than 21 00:01:32,480 --> 00:01:38,639 Speaker 1: throw it. Then, on Saturday October, things took an even 22 00:01:38,680 --> 00:01:44,240 Speaker 1: more frightening turn. Several horrified residents called their doctors to 23 00:01:44,319 --> 00:01:48,880 Speaker 1: report difficulty breathing. The town ambulance was dispatched to help, 24 00:01:49,160 --> 00:01:51,880 Speaker 1: but the streets were so choked with fog that it 25 00:01:51,920 --> 00:01:54,400 Speaker 1: had to be guided by someone walking in front with 26 00:01:54,440 --> 00:01:58,720 Speaker 1: a flashlight. The number of calls quickly became too many 27 00:01:58,800 --> 00:02:02,120 Speaker 1: to manage, so fireman just started going door to door 28 00:02:02,320 --> 00:02:06,960 Speaker 1: to offer oxygen to whoever was inside. Residents with chronic 29 00:02:07,000 --> 00:02:11,080 Speaker 1: conditions were advised to leave town, but with visibility what 30 00:02:11,200 --> 00:02:16,560 Speaker 1: it was, leaving by car was not an option. Finally, 31 00:02:16,919 --> 00:02:21,680 Speaker 1: at around two am, the first death was reported. Twelve 32 00:02:21,720 --> 00:02:27,160 Speaker 1: hours later, another seventeen people had died. The fog continued 33 00:02:27,200 --> 00:02:29,760 Speaker 1: to take its toll on the panic town for the 34 00:02:29,840 --> 00:02:34,880 Speaker 1: next two days. Thousands of residents poured into nearby hospitals 35 00:02:34,960 --> 00:02:39,280 Speaker 1: gasping for air, and two more people died from asphyxiation. 36 00:02:40,280 --> 00:02:44,760 Speaker 1: At last, at midday on Halloween Sunday, a heavy rain 37 00:02:44,880 --> 00:02:49,200 Speaker 1: began to fall and the fog quickly lifted. According to 38 00:02:49,320 --> 00:02:52,919 Speaker 1: doctor William Rongauss, the head of the local Board of Health, 39 00:02:53,280 --> 00:02:56,560 Speaker 1: if the rain hadn't arrived. When it did, the casualty 40 00:02:56,639 --> 00:03:00,480 Speaker 1: list would have been a thousand instead of twenty. At 41 00:03:00,480 --> 00:03:03,800 Speaker 1: the time, do Nora was a town of just fourteen 42 00:03:03,880 --> 00:03:07,520 Speaker 1: thousand people. It was located in the basin of the 43 00:03:07,600 --> 00:03:13,280 Speaker 1: Monongahela River valley, nestled between steep hills. It was built 44 00:03:13,400 --> 00:03:17,440 Speaker 1: as an industrial town, home to several large steel mills 45 00:03:17,560 --> 00:03:21,640 Speaker 1: and a zinc smelting plant. For decades prior to the 46 00:03:21,720 --> 00:03:26,600 Speaker 1: nineteen forty eight disaster, these facilities had released large amounts 47 00:03:26,600 --> 00:03:31,480 Speaker 1: of sulfuric acid, carbon bonoxide, and other pollutants into the air. 48 00:03:32,560 --> 00:03:35,800 Speaker 1: The problem was well known, and as far back as 49 00:03:35,800 --> 00:03:39,320 Speaker 1: the nineteen twenties, the owner of the zinc plant began 50 00:03:39,440 --> 00:03:44,320 Speaker 1: paying damages to the residents of De Noora. However, industrial 51 00:03:44,400 --> 00:03:48,280 Speaker 1: air pollution wasn't regulated in those days, so nothing was 52 00:03:48,320 --> 00:03:53,360 Speaker 1: actually done to reduce the harmful emissions. Over time, the 53 00:03:53,440 --> 00:03:56,600 Speaker 1: residents just got used to seeing a bright yellow cloud 54 00:03:56,640 --> 00:03:59,680 Speaker 1: around the zinc plant. In their minds, it was no 55 00:03:59,760 --> 00:04:04,040 Speaker 1: big deal. Sure, most days in Donora began in a 56 00:04:04,080 --> 00:04:07,760 Speaker 1: hazy fog, but by afternoon the wind would sweep through 57 00:04:07,760 --> 00:04:10,600 Speaker 1: the valley and clear out all the bad air. The 58 00:04:10,720 --> 00:04:14,760 Speaker 1: system worked, and that's why in the week before Halloween. 59 00:04:14,880 --> 00:04:19,960 Speaker 1: In the residents weren't too concerned or surprised when that 60 00:04:20,040 --> 00:04:24,279 Speaker 1: yellow fog started rolling in. But the difference that week 61 00:04:24,760 --> 00:04:29,440 Speaker 1: was the morning fog didn't clear up in the afternoon. Instead, 62 00:04:29,760 --> 00:04:33,040 Speaker 1: it just hovered over the town and each day added 63 00:04:33,080 --> 00:04:36,840 Speaker 1: a new layer of fog until finally it filled up 64 00:04:36,880 --> 00:04:41,560 Speaker 1: the entire valley until no one could breathe. Even though 65 00:04:41,600 --> 00:04:44,559 Speaker 1: the air pollution was an open secret in De Nora, 66 00:04:45,240 --> 00:04:48,800 Speaker 1: the zinc plant didn't shut down its operation that year 67 00:04:49,160 --> 00:04:53,400 Speaker 1: until October thirty one, the day the fog finally lifted. 68 00:04:54,320 --> 00:04:59,040 Speaker 1: A federal investigation later concluded that more than five thousand 69 00:04:59,120 --> 00:05:03,520 Speaker 1: of the fourteen thousand residents had experienced moderate to severe 70 00:05:03,680 --> 00:05:08,640 Speaker 1: symptoms during the week long crisis. The report also confirmed 71 00:05:08,680 --> 00:05:12,360 Speaker 1: what most people already knew that the American Steel and 72 00:05:12,400 --> 00:05:16,680 Speaker 1: Wire Plant and the Donora zinc works emitted a toxic 73 00:05:16,800 --> 00:05:21,599 Speaker 1: mix of poisonous gases, heavy metals, and other inhalable matter 74 00:05:22,040 --> 00:05:26,159 Speaker 1: that's hazardous to human health. So it's obvious where the 75 00:05:26,240 --> 00:05:30,160 Speaker 1: fog came from, But why was it so thick and 76 00:05:30,240 --> 00:05:35,320 Speaker 1: persistent during that last week in October. The answer, according 77 00:05:35,320 --> 00:05:39,279 Speaker 1: to the investigation, was a weather phenomena known as a 78 00:05:39,320 --> 00:05:44,279 Speaker 1: temperature inversion. This event occurs when a layer of cold 79 00:05:44,360 --> 00:05:47,680 Speaker 1: air is trapped in place by a layer of warm 80 00:05:47,800 --> 00:05:51,640 Speaker 1: air above it. In the case of Donora, the cold 81 00:05:51,760 --> 00:05:55,600 Speaker 1: air included the routine pollution that rolled into town daily, 82 00:05:56,120 --> 00:05:59,400 Speaker 1: and the warmer air above it prevented that pollution from 83 00:05:59,520 --> 00:06:03,599 Speaker 1: leaving the area as it usually did. Then, when it 84 00:06:03,720 --> 00:06:07,680 Speaker 1: rained on Halloween, the water pulled the pollution particles to 85 00:06:07,720 --> 00:06:12,479 Speaker 1: the ground, allowing the air to finally clear. After the 86 00:06:12,640 --> 00:06:17,080 Speaker 1: killer fog and Donora became national news, the public finally 87 00:06:17,120 --> 00:06:21,080 Speaker 1: began to take air pollution a little more seriously. Less 88 00:06:21,080 --> 00:06:24,760 Speaker 1: than a decade later, the Donora Zinc Works closed its 89 00:06:24,760 --> 00:06:28,800 Speaker 1: doors for good. More than a hundred residents then filed 90 00:06:28,880 --> 00:06:33,360 Speaker 1: lawsuits against the American Steel and Wire Company, but in response, 91 00:06:33,800 --> 00:06:37,440 Speaker 1: the company asserted that the smog had been quote an 92 00:06:37,480 --> 00:06:41,440 Speaker 1: act of God. In the end, the company settled out 93 00:06:41,440 --> 00:06:44,960 Speaker 1: of court, and it never acknowledged any blame for the disaster. 94 00:06:46,040 --> 00:06:50,080 Speaker 1: Although the Donora Steel Mill is long gone, the company 95 00:06:50,120 --> 00:06:53,600 Speaker 1: behind it continues to operate other steel works in the 96 00:06:53,720 --> 00:06:57,960 Speaker 1: US to this day. The town of Donora is now 97 00:06:58,000 --> 00:07:01,800 Speaker 1: a shell of its former self, and its dwindling population 98 00:07:02,040 --> 00:07:06,120 Speaker 1: still suffers from the lingering effects of the pollution. If 99 00:07:06,160 --> 00:07:09,320 Speaker 1: there's an upside to what happened in Donora, it's that 100 00:07:09,360 --> 00:07:12,760 Speaker 1: had helped raise awareness of the need for environmental regulation. 101 00:07:13,520 --> 00:07:18,800 Speaker 1: When left unchecked, traditional and even new industries and technologies 102 00:07:19,080 --> 00:07:22,720 Speaker 1: can poison the very air we breathe, making us sick, 103 00:07:23,120 --> 00:07:27,440 Speaker 1: shortening our lives, or even killing us. The story of 104 00:07:27,480 --> 00:07:31,560 Speaker 1: Donora is frightening, but to ignore the warning it offers 105 00:07:31,880 --> 00:07:37,560 Speaker 1: could lead to something even scarier. I'm gay, Bluesier, and 106 00:07:37,640 --> 00:07:41,000 Speaker 1: hopefully you now know a little more about history today 107 00:07:41,040 --> 00:07:44,160 Speaker 1: than you did yesterday. If you want to keep up 108 00:07:44,160 --> 00:07:47,360 Speaker 1: with the show, you can follow us on Twitter, Facebook, 109 00:07:47,440 --> 00:07:51,440 Speaker 1: and Instagram at t d I h C Show, and 110 00:07:51,480 --> 00:07:54,320 Speaker 1: if you have any comments or suggestions, you can send 111 00:07:54,320 --> 00:07:57,200 Speaker 1: them my way at this Day at i heart media 112 00:07:57,400 --> 00:08:01,200 Speaker 1: dot com. Thanks to Chandler Mays for producing the show, 113 00:08:01,480 --> 00:08:04,000 Speaker 1: and thank you for listening. I'll see you back here 114 00:08:04,040 --> 00:08:14,800 Speaker 1: again tomorrow for another Scary day in History class. For 115 00:08:14,880 --> 00:08:17,000 Speaker 1: more podcasts from my Heart Radio, visit the I Heart 116 00:08:17,080 --> 00:08:19,600 Speaker 1: Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen to your 117 00:08:19,640 --> 00:08:20,280 Speaker 1: favorite shows.