Waterbury Democrat., 1902-03-19
HOTEL SAFEGUARDS.

Edward Atkinson. the we'll known fire I prevention expert, makes some very suggestive points. Mir Atkinson thinks that the theory that sparks might have been sucked down through the air. duct, and so communicated the blaze, cannot be maintained. He believes that the fire originated either from a hot bearing (which is not probable), from spontaneous combustion, or from burning fragments poured through the elevator shaft from which windows looked out on the inner quadrangle. In
 his opinion the fire resisting qualities of the main clements of the building were fully justified by the test. The large loss of life and the small destruc ton of insurable values may be at 1 tributed, he thinks, 10 remedabic faults in construction. That is, re- currence of such disaster may be alb.
 solutely prevented by the adoption If proper safeguards.
 Had there been a thin glass skylight over the elevator shaft (as is provided 1 in some of the best equipped factory buildings). the draught might have I been carried out. instead of in, at the l dangerous points, MT Atkinson then adds these interesting details: "Hay- ing thus accounted for the conveyance of the heat of the sixth and seventh floors where the chief loss by fire oc- cured accompanied by dreadful loss of life. we now come to the causes and
 the remedies. The main stairway to the sixth floor was of metal of very substantial kind. which is uninjured; .from the sixth to the seventh floor the
 stringers were of metal. the treads of wood, and the posts. rail and balusters of heavy wood bronZed to correspond with the metal below. The small
 amount of saving that could have been made by this substitution of wood for metal would indicate, that an error in | the specification or an addition of story was the cause, rather than fraud.
 This stairway was destroyed. There were also on these two floors, and
 there may be on others. some partitions between the rooms and the railways which were of common ioist construc,
 ton, lathed and plastered, but there
 are not connected with any hollow
 floor or roofs, and therefore only sup ply so much combustible material The
 brick walls of the railways, and proba- bly, of the whole building, are screened
 by clustering laid on wooden lath, but \ the wooden laths were furred off only
 three-quarters of an inch. Therefore, the plaster must have locked behind
 the lath, substantially cutting off the circulation of air. At the most intense point of the fire in the front hallway
 of the sixth floor, this lathing and
 clustering is burned off down to the l oF VI
 shows red paint blistered. Whether or not this paint was also vanished with
 combustible materials I did not learn
 and could not decide
 "On both sides of the main stairway
 throughout it's course, were ornamental wooden dadoes or wainscoting. laid close to the brick work, but varnished
 on the outside with the customary l dangerous and combustible varnishes. The mop-boards in all the halls were also vanished with dangerous ma,
 teriaL The doors were painted, and it Is singular fact that, notwithstanding the intensity of the fire (which on the l seventh floor completely destroyed a large bookcase in the corridor, close to l tne door, and the books therein, so that no trace is left, even of the books). yet the room doors were none of them
 turned rhfough-all merely charred ro | Il greater or less depth. They were recessed In very thick brick party Wall lne railways, ten feet wide, were all covered with woolen carnet laid over the common paper Wadde1
 Wlth cotton, making a thickness os combustible material sufficient to ac. count, when coupled with the yarnisb on the wood work, for the acrid and dense smoke by which so many neonla were suffocated It is my purnosa ro rest all the various materials-wool Jute, hemp, cotton. paper yarnisbed wood, etc-fn order to ascertain ot what temperature each will ignite and aiso 10 test the various yarnishas for tne same purpose
 1he guests who were awakened in
 .llne ana those who kept cool and col .etceu had easy modes of escape Al lhtlnate friend has been q guest for seNerai years in this hotel. His room
 mas oI the sixth floor. At the level If lns WlnuoWs Of this sixth floor there is q broad parapet in which is tl1e mat, su,.er oI section of at least ten < incnes square at the bottom cas+ ,n lron; lnside, q ledge sufficient for . l comfortable seat, outside furthnr projection. thus giving an annie snaca Tor safety This gentleman was awakened by the noise. saw the smoke coming ill by the open ransom. which lie closed; then, putting on some ! cloIhes, he opened the door into tlio hMlWay and found that his escape ii, l that way was cut off by dense smoke. pervaded with the sickening smell of burning paint varnish and wool. He ' closed the door, threw some blankets over his shoulders and took his nm pfella with him, stepped out upon 1be parapet, closed the. window. and ra- ] manned quietly seated until the fire was so far subdued that the firemen i ! were working on the sixth floor. The i blankets and the umbrella shed the f shoWers or sparks and burning flakes l and with them he attracted the atfen. l ton of the iremen below. The door oi HIS room was not burned through Even after he came into the hallway ne witnessed the fire progressing on | the varnish of the mopboards outside themaln part of the hall, where inc fire 1 men eXtlnguished, it. In another room on thls floor lay a sick lady in charge | or nurse. Finding escape by tba ha1l cut or. she aroused her patient. opened l the window gnd fbnro ,.n,,, o;,, a.7 ....4., l