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REAL* ESTATE
AND
NEW YORK, JUNE 6, 1914
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Ifire prevention as a municipal function
Total Loss By Conflagration Throughout Country Aggregates .About $600,000
Daily—Per Capita Loss Five Times That Of Any Country In Europe.
By JOSEPH O. HAMMITT, Chief Fire Prevention Bureau
IIIIIIIII
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P IRE prevention as a municipal func-
â– '• tion is somewhat difficult to deal
with, because municipalities so far have
done very little functioning along that
line. Municipal fire prevention is com¬
paratively new. Though the fire waste
in this country amounts in actual cash,
according to a Government estimate, to
about $600,000 a day, or $25,000 an hour,
and has been such for many years, we
have given little thought as yet to scien¬
tific measures for reducing this enor¬
mous waste. The per capita fire loss
in this country is five times as great as
that of any country of Europe. I gave
the figure of $600,000 a day, which is
$416 a minute, as the actual cash cost of
our fires in this country. But that is
only the minor portion of the loss. To
arrive at a fair estimate of what fires
cost us we must include the upkeep of
fire departments, part of the upkeep of
water departments, and so much of the
fire insurance premiums as are not paid
out in indemnities. This brings the cost
of fires up to not less than $500,000,000
a year, which is $125,000,000 more than
the total cost of the Panama Canal.
Gigantic Fire Loss.
Now, even the $500,000,000 does not
include the total loss, for to this must
be added the economic loss—loss of
business, loss of employment, disturb¬
ance of industry and of financial condi¬
tions; and to all this, one more factor,
which is, from the humanitarian view¬
point, the I'nost important, must be
added—the loss of human life, which
averages in this country about 2,000
persons a year, and the injuries which
deprive the sufferers of the capacity to
enjoy life or to make their lives fruit¬
ful. The number of persons incapaci¬
tated at fires in this country each year
is about 6,000. Should we count in all
our losses, using the actuary's figures
of $5,000 as the economic value of a life,
the figures would well run into billions
instead of hundreds of millions.
The Federal Government in 1907 con¬
ducted an investigation into the causes
of fires. The results of this inquiry
ought to have awakened the country.
The figures put the total cash cost of
fires for that year, excluding that of
forest fires and marine losses, but in¬
cluding excess cost of fire protection
due to bad construction, and excess
premiums over insurance paid, at $456,-
485,000. A Government report shows
that the tax of this fire loss on the
people exceeds the total value of the
gold, silver, copper and petroleum pro¬
duced in the United States in that year.
This report shows that nearly one-half
the value of all the new buildings con¬
structed in one year throughout the
country is destroyed by fire.
Movement Started in 1835.
As far back as 1835. Zachariah Allen
inaugurated in New England the first
fire-prevention movement in this country
by introducing into his cotton factories
what is known today as "mill construc-
tioii-.." Allen became the moving spirit
•Protf> an address delivered at Auburn, N. Y.,
June 4.
JOSEPH O. HAMMITT.
in the factory mutual systeni of fire
insurance. He devoted much attention
to the subject of building construction
and found that by increasing the thick¬
ness of his floors and of the beams in
his buildings, by building fire walls in
the different parts of these structures,
by closing vertical openings through the
floor, by keeping these floors clean frorn
oily -waste and clippings, by even pay¬
ing attention to the condition of the
watchman's lanterns, and, generally, by
instituting carefulness and good house¬
keeping where carelessness and sloven¬
liness had prevailed, he was able to
reduce the number of fires to a great
extent.
Creation of Bureau.
The first serious attempt to develop
fire prevention as a municipal function
in this State was the enactment in 1911
of an amendment of the Greater New
York Charter creating in the Fire De¬
partment a Bureau of Fire Prevention.
Through this bureau the Fire Commis¬
sioner enforces laws and ordinances and
regulations of the Fire Department it¬
self for the prevention of fires, and also
as to making buildings safe for their
occupants in case of fire by means of
adequate exit facilities. The principal
aim of fire prevention as a municipal
function is the protection of human life.
The protection of property against de¬
struction is a secondary, though very
important, feature.
"The putjlic demand which called forth
the enactment of the New York City
fire-prevention law was awakened by
the tragedy of the Triangle waist fac¬
tory fire in which 145 factory workers
met death.
Two lines of attack are open to the
municipality which makes war upon its
fire waste, having in view the protection
of human life as the principal object
and the preservation of property as a
secondary, but very important, consider¬
ation. One of these methods of attack
is fire prevention in its narrowest sense,
and the other is fire prevention in its
broader sense and consists of requiring
in every building (such as a hotel, a
factory, an office building, a lodging
house, or a place of public amusement)
adequate and accessible exits through
which all the occupants can pass in a
short period of time to a place of safety
in case of fire or panic.
Orders Complied With.
Both these lines of attack are availed
of by the Fire Department of New York
City, acting under its fire-prevention
law. The character of results obtained
is indicated by a statement of important
requirements of the Bureau of Fire Pre¬
vention complied with during the first
three months of 1914. The following
statement gives a record not of the or¬
ders issued bv the Fire Department for
safety, but of the orders actually com¬
plied with during the first three months
of the present year. It is as follows:
(1) Sprinkler systems installed..... 20
IL') Additional exits, stairways and
fire-escapes ................. 61
(3) Repairs and extensions of exist¬
ing stairways, fire-escapes and
exits, removal of obstructions
at exits and keeping doors un¬
locked ....................... 231
(4) Miscellaneous structural alter¬
ations, fireproofing and pro¬
tection, fireproof windows, shut¬
ters, skylights, etc............1,381
(5) Repairs ot electrical equipment.. 475
(6) Removal ot dangerous conditions
in heating and power plants.. 299
(7) Miscellaneous fire appliance and
fireproof receptacles (such as
water buckets, hand fire ex¬
tinguishers, etc.). The figure
represents not the number of
appliances but the number ot
orders to install equipments. .2,583
(.S) Installations ot interior fire alarm
systems ..................... â– 6
(0) Installation of fire drills (tested
and approved by the B'ureau of
Fire Prevention) ............ 46
( 1<>I Hazardous occupancies discon¬
tinued, hazardous stock re¬
moved, etc................... 170
(11) Quantities of combustibles on
storage reduced .............. 49
(12) Approved storage systems tor com¬
bustibles installed ............ 9
These figures do not include the work
in theatres. One of the heaviest re¬
sponsibilities of the Fire Department is
to protect the theatregoing public, in¬
cluding the tens of thousands of patrons
of moving-picture shows. In New
York City we have fairly adequate or¬
dinances setting forth the requirements
necessary for the safety of theatre and
moving-picture patrons from fire and
panic dangers.
Enforcing Ordinances.
This year we discovered in the City
of New York how to enforce these or¬
dinances. We notified the theatre man¬
agers that their licenses would not be
renewed unless they complied with all
the requirements. Theatre licenses ex¬
pired on the first of May, and I imagine
that in the six weeks immediately pre¬
ceding that date there was more work
done in existing theatres in order to
render them safe in case of fire or fire
panic than during any equal number of
months in the previous history of the
Fire Department. The sudden solicitude
for the welfare of the public displayed