Columbia University Libraries Digital Collections: The Real Estate Record

Real estate record and builders' guide: [v. 96, no. 2493: Articles]: December 25, 1915

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A^>D NEW YORK, DECEMBER 25, 191-5 Ijlllillllllllillillillllillillllill I A MAN'S SIZE JOB IS A FIRE CHIEF'S | The Propagation and Enforcement of Fire Prevention an I Important Part of His Duties—What Carelessness Has Done 1 By WILLIAM GUERIN Deputy Chief New York Fire Department (Retired) and Acting Chief Bureau of Fire Prevention* lllillllMillillilllillilllililllilllilliliillliili FROM the day that fire extinguish¬ ment was made the serious work ot a lifetime, rather than the occasional duty of the volunteer, fire prevention has been the handmaiden of fire fighting. For the man who had the serious work ot fighting fire as his daily task leariied from each fire some lesson to make his future work easier by either preventing similar fires occurring in the future or limiting the opportunity of fire to spread if it oc¬ curs from like causes. The words of the earlier fire chiefs were not heard when they spoke of fire prevention measures, as it was deemed that the architect and builder was the men to solve such problems, but this was a mistake, for the architect and builder seldom saw a building wreck after a fire, except to remove it as quickly as possible, for time is money. What the Fire Chiefs Saw. The fire chiefs "on the job" saw what happened to granite and stone founda¬ tions when attacked by fire and then hose streams. It was the fire chief who saw a seven-story factory 200 feet square, without a division wall, become a smoking wreck in forty-five minutes, and this in the heart of New York City with a fire department second to none doing its best to save the building. These are the men who have clamored for better construction, changes in buildin.g laws to safeguard life and prop¬ erty and reduce the "ash heap." In later years a change has come about, and in nearly every community having a paid fire department the chief has a place in the counsels of the com¬ munity when considering the laws and ordinances relative to construction and safeguardin.g of buildings from fire. To-day the progressive chief of a fire department feels the need of fire pre¬ vention work to be as great as that of fire extinguishment,' for preventing fires means fewer fires, savin.g of lives, less interruption of business and fewer homes destroyed. Importance of Educational Methods. There are many things to do to make fire prevention a success: The first and greatest is a carnpaign of education to impress on each individual in a com¬ munity his or her personal responsibility for a fire occurring as a result of care¬ lessness pure and simple. Tn New York City durin,g the year 1914, more than 8,000 fires occurred from the causes I have here enun-ierated. and every one of them preventable by using a little care. Carefulness is a moral quality, and you can never legislate it into the in¬ dividual—you must teach it to him. Of course we can have le,gislation that will punish the careless one, but we don't want to wait until every careless act has been punished to bring about our reform of the fire waste. I_ dwell strongly on the matter of edu¬ cation for several reasons, chief of which is that a careful body of men can oper- *Proni a paper read betore New 5'ork Chap¬ ter ot Natinn.al Fire-Prevention Association, CHIEF GUERIN (retired). ate a powder mill in a frame building for an indefinite period of time without a fire occurring, if sufficient care is ex¬ ercised, while on the other hand in the year 1911 in New York City 146 lives were lost by fire in a buildin.g admitted to be of fireproof construction except for the wooden floors and trim, neither of which contributed materially to the origin or spread of the fire. The build¬ ing had adequate standpipes and hose, and the business carried on was women's shirtwaists. This fire, like thousands of others, was caused by an act of care¬ lessness, throwing away a lighted cigarette. What Carelessness Did. The fire that destroyed the Equitable Building in New York City, where a chief officer, lost his life, as well as some of the employees of the building, was caused by carelessly throwing away a lighted match. Now, the means of education are ob¬ viously the schools, the lecture centers, the boards of trade, the manufacturers' associations, the merchants' associations, the public press, and all means available to bring the matter home to the people. There can be no ceasing in this cam¬ paign of education, for our people are prone to forget, so much so that to save their eternal souls they have to be preached to at least once a week, and in some denorninations oftener. There arc other reasons why the cam¬ paign of education is so necessary in the elimination of the fire waste. The State and the Home. In New York City a record has been kept monthly, and consolidated each year, showing in what class of buildings fires occurred, and at what point in thc building the fire started. This report, both monthly and yearly, shows that more than sixty per cent, of all fires occur in the homes of the people. We do not hesitate to enter a store, a factory or hotel and order the removal of rubbish, the safeguarding of a dan¬ gerous condition, or the ceasing of a dangerous practice, because these places are "affected with a public interest" and the police power of the State unhesi¬ tatingly compels obedience. But in the homes of the people we have a different proposition. We have inherited an Anglo-Saxon civilization liased on personal liberty and the sacred- ness of a man's home, and the State pauses on its threshold, and only crosses it without permission when a felony has been committed or pestilence is within. Therefore, the people in their homes may only be reached by educa¬ tion. Our next step is to secure adequate building codes suitable for the needs of each community—not too radical, but giving an adequate and reasonable pro¬ tection. Uplifters' Demands Too Radical. When the State of New York was im¬ pressed with the need of better fire pre¬ vention laws, it fell a prey to the radi¬ cal demands of well meaning but unin¬ formed reformers, resulting in some laws that were of doubtful constitutionality, and others that bore heavily on owners of property, out of all proportion to the supposed benefit to the occupants of the buildings. In a recently proposed building code for ,general use, it was stated that "all buildin,gs exceedin,g 75 feet in height" should have all windows glazed with wire glass. While I am fully aware of the value of -wired glass to protect from exterior exposures, I am sure that H-inch com¬ mercial polished plate glass is sufficient protection to guard against any verti¬ cal hazard from fire coming out of l'>w- er windows, and the latter costs but one- lialf the price of polished wire .glass. I witnessed a test where the 'i-inch plate .alass was subjected to 1,300 de¬ grees Fahrenheit, rising from zero to that temperature in thirty-two minutes, and held at that temperature for ten minutes without a break occurrin.g. I have since been informed of tests going to a much higher temperature without failin,g. Conservativeness a Duty. Conservativencss in such matters is a duty of the really progressive fire chief. The storage, sale, transportation and use of combustibles and explosive ma¬ terials has entered largely in the affairs of our cities, and suitable regulations governing these matters are necessary. Tlie scope of such re.gulations will nat¬ urally vary with needs of the different communities. New York City has an elalioratc set of ordinances on this sub¬ ject, and well it mi.ght, for the daily use of dynamite in that city is many tons, to say nothing of the thousands of .gal¬ lons of .gasoline. The latest acquisition to this_ end is the approved liquid gas fire extinguish¬ ers, which will readily extinguish gaso¬ line fires, electric arcs, paint fires, and all those fires occurring in what are known as the "extra hazardous ma-