The Glass Inferno

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The Glass Inferno is a 1977 novel by Thomas N. Scortia and Frank M. Robinson. It is one of the two books that was used to create the movie The Towering Inferno, the other being The Tower.

[edit] Plot summary

The story concerns the events during the grand opening celebration of a brand new high-rise building in an unnamed city. A combination of a building built to the absolute minimum compliance with safety rules, combined with graft and corruption in its construction, leads to the building becoming a tinderbox waiting to happen.

Nat, the building's architect, discovers a number of work orders to change the wiring in the building to lower the quality of the electrical equipment, have his forged signature on them. He comes to the conclusion that the electrical contractor used forgeries, bribes and kickbacks to allow substandard electrical equipment to be installed, potentially creating at a minimum hazardous and potentially deadly condition.

A part of the story deals with a TV reporter named Quantrell, who, using a disgruntled former employee of the contractor, was given copies of documents relating to the building's construction. In one scene, Quantrell uses them on his television show to point out how the building was designed in violation of local building codes at the time the drawings were made, and that the local building codes were changed afterward to allow the design to be in compliance, implying that the owners of the building paid bribes to have the building codes rewritten. The reporter gets threats from all sides to back down on his aggressive reporting of the building's failures.

A small home furnishings store owner, despondent over his near bankruptcy, decides to burn his business down for the insurance. He tries to do so, but realizes what it will do to his business parner and lover, Larry. He puts out the fire but realizes that he's now really ruined because of what he has done. He then discovers that he is smelling smoke which is not from the fire he tried to set, but is from a real fire, unrelated to his, that has occurred in the building!

The story continues as it shows the efforts of other residents of the building to attempt to escape the flames, some successful, some not. Eventually a number of people end up in the penthouse restaurant of the building, who are trapped and unable to get down. They are eventually rescued successfully by helicopter.

The fire is eventually put out by blowing up water tanks below the roof of the building which causes the water to drown the fire.