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the lawsuit, leaving them little after legal expenses were factored in. Representatives of
American Steel and Wire settled the more than $ 4.6 million claimed in 130 damage suits at about 5% of what had been sought, noting that the company was prepared to show at trial that the smog had been caused by a "freak weather condition" that trapped over Donora "all of the smog coming from the homes, railroads, the steamboats, and the exhaust from automobiles, as well as the effluents from its plants." U.S. Steel closed both plants by 1966.
54:
240:
in the hope of getting treatment faster. It was not until mid-day
Saturday, the 30th, that Mrs. Cora Vernon, executive director of the American Red Cross, had it set up so that all calls going to the doctors’ offices would be switched to the emergency center being established in the town hall. The smog was so intense that driving was nearly abandoned; those who chose to continue driving took risks. “I drove on the left side of the street with my head out the window. Steering by scraping the curb.” recalled Davis.
213:. The smog continued until it rained on Sunday, October 31, by which time 20 residents of Donora had died and approximately one third to one half of the town's population of 14,000 residents had been sickened. Another 50 residents died of respiratory causes within a month after the incident; notable among the fatalities was Lukasz Musial, the father of future baseball Hall of Famer and the 1948
61:
278:
Lawsuits were filed against U.S. Steel, which never acknowledged responsibility for the incident, calling it "an act of God". While the steel company did not accept blame, it reached a settlement in 1951 in which it paid about $ 235,000, which was stretched over the 80 victims who had participated in
239:
The eight doctors in the town, who belonged to the Donora
Medical Association, made house calls much like the firefighters during the period of intense smog, often visiting the houses of patients who were treated by the other doctors in town. This was a result of patients calling every doctor in town
285:
The Donora Smog was one of the incidents where
Americans recognized that exposure to large amounts of pollution in a short period of time can result in injuries and fatalities. The event is often credited for helping to trigger the clean-air movement in the United States, whose crowning achievement
243:
It was not until Sunday morning, the 31st, that a meeting occurred between the operators of the plants and the town officials. August Z. Chambon, the burgess (mayor) of Donora, requested the plants temporarily cease operations. The superintendent of the plants, L.J. Westhaver, said the plants had
223:
Two of the heroes to emerge during the four-day smog were Chief John Volk of the Donora Fire
Department and his assistant Russell Davis. Volk and Davis responded to calls from Friday night, the 29th until Sunday night, the 31st, depleting their supply of 800 cubic feet (23 m) of oxygen,
297:
The incident was little spoken of in Donora until a historical marker was placed in the town in 1998, to commemorate the 50th anniversary of the incident. The 60th anniversary, in 2008, was commemorated with memorials for the families of the victims and other educational programs. The
190:, a situation in which warmer air aloft traps pollution in a layer of colder air near the surface. The pollutants in the air mixed with fog to form a thick, yellowish, acrid smog that hung over Donora for five days. The
419:
994:
302:
was opened on
October 20, 2008, located in an old storefront at 595 McKean Avenue near Sixth Street, with the slogan "Clean Air Started Here". Fewer than 6,000 people still live in Donora.
247:
Researchers analyzing the event have focused likely blame on pollutants from the zinc plant, whose emissions had killed almost all vegetation within a half-mile radius of the plant. Dr.
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959:
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214:
932:
Snyder, Lynne Page. "“The death-dealing smog over Donora, Pennsylvania”: industrial air pollution, public health policy, and the politics of expertise, 1948–1949."
244:
already begun shutting down operation at around 6:00 that morning. With the rain alleviating the smog, the plants resumed normal operation the following morning.
163:
disasters in the nation's history." Even 10 years after the incident, mortality rates in Donora were significantly higher than those in other communities nearby.
415:
291:
114:
26:
255:, has pointed to autopsy results showing fluorine levels in victims in the lethal range, as much as 20 times higher than normal. Fluorine gas generated in the
857:
202:, and other poisonous gases that usually dispersed into the atmosphere were caught in the inversion and accumulated until rain ended the weather pattern.
913:
Jacobs, Elizabeth T., Jefferey L. Burgess, and Mark B. Abbott. "The Donora smog revisited: 70 years after the event that inspired the clean air act."
252:
644:
622:
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and released in
December 1948 showed that thousands more Donora residents could have been killed if the smog had lasted any longer than it had.
582:
Musil, Robert K. (2014). "2. Don't Harm the People: Ellen
Swallow Richards, Dr. Alice Hamilton, and their heirs take on polluting industries".
360:
by Joel
Pierson features a fictional town, Wyandotte, Pennsylvania, which became a ghost town after a smog incident, based on the Donora Smog.
593:
318:
The Donora event led to the first large-scale epidemiological investigation of an environmental health disaster in the United States.
205:
The fog started building up in Donora on
Wednesday, October 27, 1948. By the following day it was causing coughing and other signs of
902:
821:
282:
By 1949, a year after the disaster, the total value of the predominantly residential property in Donora had declined by nearly 10%.
209:
for many residents of the community in the Monongahela River valley. Many of the illnesses and deaths were initially attributed to
979:
954:
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process became trapped by the stagnant air and was the primary cause of the deaths. Further research was conducted by
918:
294:
to develop and enforce regulations to protect the general public from exposure to hazardous airborne contaminants.
263:
about the effects of the smog; she was pressured to withdraw publication of these results but refused to be bowed.
623:"DONORA SMOG HELD NEAR CATASTROPHE; Expert Asserts Slightly Higher Concentration Would Have Depopulated Community"
305:
236:. "I didn’t take any myself. What I did every time I came back to the station was have a little shot of whiskey."
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in April 2009. The film features archival images and interviews with survivors of the environmental tragedy.
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under the title "The Fog". Together with another article, "A Pig From Jersey" (about a mass-case of
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on the Donora smog incident. The incident would be revisited in a later Weather Channel series,
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332:
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When Smoke Ran Like Water: Tales of Environmental Deception and the Battle Against Pollution
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killed 20 people and caused respiratory problems for 6,000 of the 14,000 people living in
871:
Bryson, Chris (Fall 1998). "A Secret History of America's Worst Air Pollution Disaster".
585:
Rachel Carson and Her Sisters: Extraordinary Women Who Have Shaped America's Environment
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plant were frequent occurrences in Donora. What made the 1948 event more severe was a
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665:"The Donora Smog Revisited: 70 Years After the Event That Inspired the Clean Air Act"
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645:"Steel Company Pays $ 235,000 to Settle $ 4,643,000 in Donora Smog Death Suits"
803:
260:
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143:
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339:. "The Fog" was later included in his celebrated collection of short stories
97:
84:
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Museum remembers Donora's deadly 1948 smog: story by Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
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135:
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532:"Unveiling a Museum, a Pennsylvania Town Remembers the Smog That Killed 20"
663:
Jacobs, Elizabeth T.; Burgess, Jefferey L.; Abbott, Mark B. (April 2018).
482:
321:
An account of the smog was published in 1950 by the noted medical writer
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925:
Donora Death Fog: Clean Air and the Tragedy of a Pennsylvania Mill Town
805:
Donora Death Fog: Clean Air and the Tragedy of a Pennsylvania Mill Town
504:
382:
365:
Donora Death Fog: Clean Air and the Tragedy of a Pennsylvania Mill Town
813:
792:
Pierson, Joel. Don't Kill The Messenger: A Novel. iUniverse.com, 2009.
271:
Preliminary results of a study performed by Clarence A. Mills of the
210:
304:
481:. Pennsylvania Historical & Museum Commission. Archived from
762:"Eleven Blue Men, and Other Narratives of Medical Detection"
251:, director of the Center for Environmental Oncology at the
505:“Cleaning the Air We Breathe: A Half Century of Progress.”
374:, produced by Andrew Maietta and Janet Whitney, aired on
224:
borrowing more from all nearby municipalities, including
367:, was published by the University of Pittsburgh Press.
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Industrial accidents and incidents in the United States
845:
Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection
113:
76:
890:
153:Sixty years later, the incident was described by
631:, December 25, 1948. Accessed November 2, 2008.
507:EPA Alumni Association. September 2017. Page 9.
572:, October 21, 2008. Accessed November 2, 2008.
469:
467:
422:noting the historic importance of the event.
416:Pennsylvania Historical and Museum Commission
292:United States Environmental Protection Agency
8:
970:Environmental disasters in the United States
653:, April 18, 1951. Accessed November 2, 2008.
564:"Museum remembers Donora's deadly 1948 smog"
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960:1948 natural disasters in the United States
766:Bulletin of the Medical Library Association
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637:
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381:The Donora smog incident was mentioned in
36:
18:
858:When Weather Changed History: Killer Smog
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688:
503:John Bachmann, David Calkins, Margo Oge.
253:University of Pittsburgh Cancer Institute
16:Major Pennsylvania air pollution incident
965:October 1948 events in the United States
60:
463:
927:(University of Pittsburgh Press, 2023)
337:Albert Lasker Medical Journalism Award
712:Berton Roueché (September 30, 1950).
558:
556:
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7:
530:Hamill, Sean D. (November 1, 2008).
146:. The event is commemorated by the
142:24 miles (39 km) southeast of
808:. University of Pittsburgh Press.
393:similar incident in London in 1952
68:Location of Donora in Pennsylvania
14:
915:American journal of public health
669:American Journal of Public Health
335:), this article won him the 1950
841:Overview of the 1948 Donora Smog
59:
52:
409:Weather That Changed The World
28:Pennsylvania Historical Marker
1:
860:. Retrieved November 6, 2008.
853:. Retrieved October 21, 2008.
353:starts with the Donora Smog.
182:'s Donora Zinc Works and its
934:Environmental History Review
588:. Rutgers University Press.
404:When Weather Changed History
391:in 2016, when it depicted a
363:In 2023 Andy McPhee's book,
314:Media coverage and influence
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760:Dorothy J. Comins (1955).
479:Historical Marker Database
370:An hour-long documentary,
42:The wire mill, Donora 1910
897:. New York: Basic Books.
351:When Smoke Ran Like Water
184:American Steel & Wire
47:
35:
24:
917:108.S2 (2018): S85-S88.
856:Weather Channel (2008).
681:10.2105/AJPH.2017.304219
358:Don't Kill the Messenger
273:University of Cincinnati
980:1948 in the environment
569:Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
442:2013 Eastern China smog
401:produced an episode of
309:Town of Donora in 2012.
955:1948 natural disasters
310:
975:History of Pittsburgh
936:18.1 (1994): 117-139.
802:McPhee, Andy (2023).
432:1930 Meuse Valley fog
308:
290:, which required the
288:Clean Air Act of 1963
188:temperature inversion
159:as "one of the worst
98:40.17624°N 79.85547°W
985:1948 in Pennsylvania
873:Earth Island Journal
675:(Suppl 2): S85–S88.
447:Great Smog of London
207:respiratory distress
132:Donora, Pennsylvania
741:. Lasker Foundation
485:on December 7, 2013
437:1939 St. Louis smog
399:The Weather Channel
215:National League MVP
103:40.17624; -79.85547
94: /
21:
849:Don Hopey (2008).
650:The New York Times
628:The New York Times
537:The New York Times
311:
300:Donora Smog Museum
156:The New York Times
148:Donora Smog Museum
814:10.2307/jj.890689
595:978-0-8135-7176-8
420:historical marker
372:Rumor of Blue Sky
333:foodborne illness
172:Hydrogen fluoride
140:Monongahela River
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120:October 28, 1995
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342:Eleven Blue Men
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178:emissions from
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772:(1): 171–172.
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739:"Prior Awards"
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249:Devra L. Davis
176:sulfur dioxide
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483:the original
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452:Pea soup fog
418:installed a
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950:Smog events
745:January 23,
723:January 23,
543:November 2,
489:December 9,
347:Devra Davis
218:Stan Musial
101: /
77:Coordinates
990:U.S. Steel
944:Categories
458:References
261:Mary Amdur
226:McKeesport
180:U.S. Steel
144:Pittsburgh
89:79°51′20″W
86:40°10′34″N
714:"The Fog"
601:4 January
388:The Crown
267:Aftermath
234:Charleroi
136:mill town
117:dedicated
889:(2002).
699:29698099
426:See also
286:was the
230:Monessen
200:fluorine
167:Incident
835:Sources
690:5922205
643:Staff.
383:Netflix
376:WQED TV
138:on the
919:online
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779:199837
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232:, and
211:asthma
899:ISBN
818:ISBN
747:2011
725:2011
695:PMID
615:via
603:2016
590:ISBN
545:2008
491:2013
174:and
134:, a
126:The
115:PHMC
810:doi
774:PMC
685:PMC
677:doi
673:108
385:'s
325:in
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Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License. Additional terms may apply.
