The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1906-04-29
time for strapplng BIO would 90 down without

time for trapping hc Wouid 80 GOWN "i'n0h'
his mattress.
aThis chute ought TO be required by law
In every factory" said Mr.. Ross. with
Que Of these chutes the bosses in oase oil
fire could just steer the stampede into the
opening and let her go. The slide Wonid
probably scare them worse than the hre'
but 1t is perfectly SAFE
There are three different bases OF o hre
drill, adapted to different sorts OF build
ings. In hospitals, schools and 80 on
the object Is 10 get the people out In
places like theatres 1t is to prevent a panio,'
and in hotels it is to put out the fire.
There was a fire In a big New York hotel
q few nights ago which ruined the contents
Of one room, doing several hundred dollars
worth of damage, and the people in the next
room did not know that there had been O
fire.
The fire drill at a big up to date hotel
is an affair Of military precision. "neh
fire is discovered in any part OF the mouse
the fire alarm, which the maids on every
floor are trained how TO use,
the fire both in the Office and TO the en-
gineer in the cellar, indicating at the same
time what floor it is on, The engineer
with n click Of a button closes tho Sec
ton doors all over the house.
These freproof swinging doors prevent
the passage Of smoke and draft ana the
spread Of fire in the corridors. Az enc
same time the engineer has sent a fire cal
for the service elevator, and with the twelve
men in his department armed with axes
and fire extinguishers he goes TO the hoor
where the fire is.
The object is not only to put out the hre
but TO do 80 without any one knowing tnere
has been a fire. Should the engineer hra
he could not handle the fire he VIII cal
the New York Fire Department n eeno
q general alarm through the house.
Employees on the ground floor then
spring to the street doors and admit no
one bat the authorities. The house detective
and his staff patrol every floor. Each mald
on each floor goes to her appointed post
to direct the guests to exits.
This machine Is put in operation in hity-
five seconds. II the announcement OF hre
comes TO the telephone girl from some
guest room, as is most likely. 1t makes a
difference Of about five seconds more.
This drill is gone through day after day,
the constantly changing staff being n
stantly drilled; and in ever 80 large a
building 1t is impossible for them to know
whether there is really a fire Of not.
In the New York Hospital also, every indi-
vidual, from the assistant manager to the
last cleaner, liz drilled once a week, either
by day or night, and knows exactly what
his part would be in getting out the 600
patients. Mr.. Ross declares that trained
nurses are among the best fire fighters he
knows.
Il was criticised a good deal when I be-
gan this work, said he, for using women
as fremen; but I would rather fight fire
with a trained woman than an unframed
man any day.
Women can be trained to a fire drill
easter than men, and I would rather have
trained nurses to fight a fire than anyone
else, except regular firemen. They are
trained to keep cool and obey orders.
"One OF the best little pieces OF work I
ever knew was in the Kingston avenue hos
pital in Brooklyn. 1t was a little wooden
cottage on posts. They had to get out Of
the window, get a ladder and put it up to
the window, as the door was covered by
flames.
when the Fire Department got there the
front OF the cottage was burned out, but the
five nurses had put out the fire and saved
thirteen children dangerously sick with
diphtheria, all with tubes in their throats,
without even disturbing the tubes. One Of
the nurses nearly lost her arm afterward
from burns, but she never stopped working
till everything vas safe.
THE women who saved so many lives in the
Slocum disaster had all been trained in
the fire drill. Miss McGibbon, the telephone
girl who called out the local fire alarm, no.
an A. A., Val. RI. H.-.k-.--k A.
Police Department and the Ambulance
Department Of every hospital In the city,
and then carried a thirty-fve foot extern
sion ladder to the sea wall, threw 1t in and
saved scores OF ~lives-sixteen the first time,
she pulled it in-was the most nervous Of
women whenI first put her on drill