The Hotel Royal fire occurred on February 7, 1892, at the Hotel Royal in New York City, killing 28 people.
[1][2] The fire began in the hotel's elevator shaft, where the night engineer was performing maintenance work by the light of a candle.
The candle's flame either ignited a gas leak in the shaft, or it caught a dry tinder such as dust and was then flamed by the strong winds blowing through the shaft.
[3] A coroner's jury assigned no fault for the fire and made no recommendations for safety improvements; however, legislation was introduced in the New York State Assembly that sought to tighten the building code in light of the fire as well as the 1891 Park Place disaster.
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