Dale's Penthouse Restaurant Fire, Montgomery AL - Famous Fires on Waymarking.com

The trendy Dales's Penthouse restaurant sat on top of the eleven story Walter Bragg Smith apartments (now Capitol Towers Apartments). It had been a favorite restaurant and watering hole for politicians, business executives, and Montgomery's high society.

It caught fire on the evening of Feb. 7, 1967, taking the lives of many, including Ed Pepper and his wife, Ann, and Teamsters lobbyist Sidney Zagri of Washington, D. C. (Pepper was widely prominent in state politics, having served as assistant state finance director and later as a member of the Alabama Public Service Commission.) Also killed was Rose Doane, Dale's hostess and the wife of then Montgomery Advertiser Sports Editor Jack Doane.

There have been many theories regarding the cause of the fire. However, authorities determined a lit pipe left in a guest's jacket pocket in the coatroom started the fire. Since the coatroom was next to the one stairwell and the elevator, the rapidly spreading fire blocked the only exits out of the restaurant for 26 of the 75 to 100 people who were at the restaurant.

Some of the survivors escaped by jumping down to the street eleven floors below. Many others survived by crawling out onto the three foot wide ledge surrounding Dales's through broken windows. They made their way along the ledge to the restaurant patio where fire fighters rescued them.

Type of Structure: Private Building Construction Date: 01/01/1951 Fire Date: 02/07/1967 Structure status: Still standing building Cause of Fire: Lit pipe left in a guest's jacket pocket in the coatroom started the fire. Documentation of the fire: [Web Link] Other: Not listed

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Date Logged Log User Rating   05/15/2012 xptwo visited it