Frostburg mining journal. [volume] (Frostburg, Md.) 1871-1913, 1871-11-25
Fire-PrOOf Cities.

Si.iVss
We trust that when the Social Science
Association meets again, its members
will borrow little of the reflected light
of the Chicago confagration. and turn
it upon the problem how to build cities
so as to avoid the recurrence of such
disaster. 1t is preposterous to suppose
that, in the nineteenth century, city
of three hundred thousand inhabitants,
with a well-organized fire department
and a lakeful of water at its doors and
penetrating even its cellars, need be at
the absolute mercy Of a cow and kero-
sene lamp. The fact rs it appears to
have been, is disgraceful to our civiliza-
ton. We give no prominence to the
mere cause of the catastrophe in this
case. Substitute for a COW and kerosene
a rat and bunch of matches, or any
other "spark " which $50 great fire
kindleth" The flame from kerosene is
no more destructive than that from fish
oil-the torch of the incendiary amounts
to the same as defective fiue. Fire in
one form or another, like the poor, is
always with us, and in every form is
liable at any moment to burst from ser
vice into danger. The question is how
to recover the mastery.
The fire at Chicago, like that of Port
land and all other great historic fires,
shows that there is apoint beyond which
all subd ling contrivances fail and be-
come utterly powerless. Engines are
burnt up, water supplies become I'M
available, fire departments resolve them
selves into a part of the distracted,
To- Of
tors. and even the blowing up of great
blocks cannot make a gap to arrest the
overlapping flames in the heated fur
mace of the air. At that stage tire-proot
buildings become mockery, after, per
haps, having proved most fatal delu-
sion to those who have sought them for
safety. In Chicago this point of hope
less effort was quickly reached, in con
sequence of the Oh wind prevailing at
the time, and the abundant feeders of
the flames supplied on every hand by
the very construction of the city. Great
planning mills, with their stores of COM
bustible material, acted like receiving
and distributing reservoirs OF fire.
Wooden buildings were everywhere
we lged in to pass on the flames as fast
as they arrived. Wooden pavements,
saturated with their inhammable sub
stances, made river Of fire along the
ground, echoing to the roar of that
The fire tiend-to use the reporters
rhetorc-found himself at home, and
positively welcomed to the freedom of
the city. Now the point of general con-
sideration is, that what happened in
Chicago may happen in all our cities, if
not on so extended scale, yet with
results sufficiently disastrous to make
the question of precautionary measures
one of the most vital importance. Port
land had no wooden pavements, and
probably much less than Chicago's pro-
portion of wooden buildings-it was. in
fact, an average American city in this
respect, with an unusually good supply
of water in front and rear. And yet it
went the same way to destruction. How
much better would Boston, New York
or Philadelphia fare under circum-
stances which might combine at any
unforeseen moment? The fires already
suffered in each of these cities give a
response which is ominous enough.
1t is evident, then, that whatever i'm
provement may be exhibited in our fire
organizations, our water resources and
other remedial contrivances, they can
not wholly cure the defect of the i'm
proper construction of our cities. For
the first, and at every stage of their
growth, the dangers by fire need to be
kept in mind and provided for by the
municipal authorities. The laying out
of streets, their width and direction,
the nature of the pavements, the ma
terial, form and use of the buildings,
should be under wise and infiexible
supervision. The idea that an individual
in crowded city has right to build as
he pleases, is as absurd as that he should
be allowed to discharge firearms at
pleasure in the streets. The common
safety becomes the supreme law, and to
consult it is-to take the lowest view
the most sensible kind of business ope-
ration, which "pays," as we can now see
plainly enough in the neglect of it by
Chicago. We need not say that the
requirements of this rule will absolutely
demand the disuses of wooden buildings,
within at least well-defined limits in the
heart of each of our cities, and the
use of brick, stone and iron, in the
interior as we'll as on the outside of our
buildings, to much greater degree than
has heretofore prevailed anywhere
among us. In another respect, the con-
ditions of health and civic beauty will
be found hand in hand with those of
security-we mean the laying out o.
ample squares within city limits. In
the little peninsular area of Portland
they thought their land was too valua
BILE, and so they had nothing of the kind
that is, previous to the fire; no,o they
are wiser and in Chicago, where there
was q whole prairie at command, the
same woful lack of foresight was
evinced, an incident perhaps, of the
greed for profitable city lots. The conse-
quence was, there were no natural barri
ers against the continuous spread of the
flames. In our older cities it may now
be difficult to secure this precaution,
except in their still growing sections.
But the younger cities, and the villages
growing into cities, should see to it at
once. The squares should be distributed
in series, in form and size expressly
adapted to afford the best resistance to
the spread of fires, and with some re-
gard to the prevailing winds of the
locality.
The problem here stated may be
greater and difficult one, but its solu-
ton is imperatively demanded, and we
believe that when public attention is
earnestly brought to bear upon it, it will
be brought about. The beginning of fire.
proof triumphs has been made. The
safe-builders appear to have succeeded