This week marked the 65th anniversary of a terrible tragedy that took place in Hartford, Connecticut, 20 minutes into a matinee show of the Ringling Brothers and Barnum & Bailey Circus. About 7,500 people were enjoying the performance of the famous trapeze artists, the Great Wallendas, when the band suddenly began to play the “Stars and Stripes Forever.” Most of the audience thought it was just part of the show. But the ringleader and ushers recognized the song as show-business code signaling a life-threatening emergency.

In fact, a small fire had started on the southwest wall of the tent. As circus personnel struggled to coordinate an orderly evacuation of audience and animals, people clamored for the exits. At least two exits were blocked. Some people stampeded through and over the crowd, some leapt from the bleachers and others frantically searched for family members rather than an escape. Others remained in their seats waiting for the fire to be extinguished.

But the flames spread quickly and soon the tent was engulfed. It collapsed within minutes, trapping hundreds. More than 700 people were injured in the fire and resulting chaos, many badly burned by melting paraffin. Of the 167 who died, more than 100 were under age 15.

The cause of the fire remains undetermined, but what we do know is that the fire was fed by the big top’s coating of paraffin and gasoline, a common waterproofing method of the time. Shortly after the fire, the military made its waterproofing compound available to the Ringling Brothers and Barnum & Bailey Circus and since 1945, all circus tents have been treated with a flame retardant compound.

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