New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1883-03-09
rr1rHnrSrS IND ELRES.

Tho fire m tine @Cambrid gen apartment
h ouse on Wednesday naturally e&ciies some
uneasness among the occupants of similar
bouses IN all parts Of the city. There is Il
tendency in some quarters to aggravate this
uneasiness by ca ling the house n dcath-trap "
and by saving that there are hundreds of others
inst like it, There il nothing in the disaster,
bad as it was, TO Justify talk of this kind. The
house WAS not lire-proof and did not pretend to
be- It was built like the great majority OF ordi-
nary dwellings in this city. and was no moro
dangerous than the highest OF those is. The
fact tbat the fire broke out at o'clock in the
morning and that the members of nine families
escaped unframed, with two exceptions shows
that all necessary precautions had been taken
and that the place was not "death-tIap."
Had one Of the women who WAS killed not been
an invalid and unable TO use the fie-escape,
there would have been NO loss of life whatever.
All that has been demonstrated by the fire is
that no house which Is not Gre-proof is safe in
case of fire. and that was known before.
As to lighthouses being especially in danger
from fire, we do not believe that to be the case
They have been built in great numbers during
the past ten years, have been fully occupied as
soon as built, and this is the first one which has
been burned. They are the most carefully pro-
tected of all dwellings. There is family on
every floor, somebody in fact in nearly every
room all the time. A FIRE cannot break out in
any part of the building without being discov-
cred by somebody almost instantly. Those
houses which are heated 10y furnace in
danger OF fire from defective fiues, but this is
Il peril which they share In common with all
single dwellings. Even when fire originates IN
this way, as IL did in the Cambridge" the
light-shlft which carries the flames also carries
the alarm to the tenants and enables them to
escape. In nearly all lighthouses of any dmen-
sions there are front and back stairways as
we'll as an outside fre-escape, and there Is usu-
ally staircase leading to the roof by which
the families on the upper floors can escape.
We mention these facts, not TO show that the
present style of building flats ia desirable or
entirely safe one but TO demonstrate that
efforts to create n panic among fat-hOuse ten
ants are unwarranted by the facts.
There can be no question but that these i'm
mense apartment-houses, which are the latest
development OF the rent problem, ought to be
made absolutely fire proof. Some of them are
so built, and others merely approximate TO that
standard. The smaller ones, which are like
ordinary dwelling houses, except that they are
a story higher and few feet deeper, are built
in the same way as the dwellng-houses, and
are Just as safe as they are in all ways save one.
The ligbt-shaft makes the exception, and it is
undoubtedly serious exception. Many
houses have two OF these as well as dumb
waiter shaft. and they furnish chimneys for
carrying the flames through the entire building
If they were heavily lined with britk, or built
like partition walls, this danger would lie en-
tirely removed. 1t is the opinion of Inspector
Esterbrook that If the shafts were constructed
in this way they would be a protection against
the spread Of fire by carrying out of the house
the smoke and flames. The building law ought
to be amended making such construction obli-
gatory. Even in the present style of building
these houses the tenant is in no ore danger
than in an ordinary house. The destruc-
ton Of the building is certain in case OF fire,
but the dangers of IL fire originating are less
than they are in ordinary houses, and the
chances for early discovery and escape are
fully as good
1t will be n most desirable thing if the pres