I have researched this fire for many years. It is commonly accepted that it was set by an arsonist and burned for nearly 40 minutes before being noticed.The roof on the school had multiple layers and collapsed shortly after CFD arrived. It is the third worst fire in Chicago history. The fire dept. was hampered by a locked couryard and only one fire escape. 92 students died along with 3 nuns. The arsonist confessed in 1961 and in fact went to the the new school and later to a school in Cicero where he started 2 more fires. He was never prosecuted based on his young age of 10 years old. He was sent to montefiore school in Chicago and later to a facility in Michigan for reform. He later went to Vietnam and drove a truck most of his life until his death in 2004. Hindsight suggests that if the powerfull Archdiosece as well as the Chicago politicians such as Richard J. Daley mayor and Quinn the fire marshall had pushed this young man might have been prevented from setting two more fires that killed another 2 people.....diffrent times. Theres also a little known fact that there was another smaller fire set at OLA in June 1958.......