CHEEKTOWAGA, N.Y. -- Headlines from more than 60 years ago hint at what students at the Cleve Hill School went through on March 31, 1954, when they were made to file out of their classrooms into hallways filled with smoke.
"I just noticed that we could only see the person ahead of us, and we went into the high school and some older kids entertained us for what seemed to be hours and hours and hours," said Karen Willis, who was in sixth grade at the time.
"It was a madhouse," said Dorothy Spaulding, one of Willis's classmates.
"It was, it was very confusing," said Willis.
"The principal... he was up on stage, and he was crying," said Spaulding.
Willis and Spaulding were in the main school building when a boiler malfunction triggered an explosion at the school's annex. Within minutes, the wooden structure was engulfed in flames. Fifteen of their classmates were killed, leaving their young friends to process their loss.
"I was really shocked because my parents insisted on taking me over to see my grandmother," said Willis. "You know, now I understand, but then I didn't."
"I think when this tragedy first happened, a lot of them were told not to talk about it, to push it aside," said Cleveland Hill Union Free School District Superintendent Jon MacSwan, "and I think the community in and of itself drew on its own strength, and that pride they had in Cleveland Hill to move forward."
That spirit of strength is part of what was meant to be captured in a new interactive exhibit on the fire that's housed at Cleve Hill School. Spaulding and Willis were among the members of the Class of 1960 who got a first look at the exhibit.
The district hasn't worked out logistics yet, but eventually individuals will be able to view the exhibit. All they'll have to do is touch a screen mounted on the wall to get an overview of the fire's history.
It also details changes that came about as a result of the fire: the creation of drills, alarms connected to fire stations, and new building standards.
Something not mentioned in the exhibit is the shift that also occurred for victims' classmates.
"We almost have to stop ourselves from talking about it when we do get together because it's always there," said Willis. "It's very sad, and it never leaves us."