New-York tribune., 1906-11-14
4 FACTORY FIRE DRILL.
One Especially arranged for Mrs.
j. Ellen Foster to See.

The fire alarm in the factory of the United
| Cigar Manufacturing Company Second avenue
| and 54th street. refused to work yesterday morn
ing. II was a very wise fire alarm. for it knew
there was no fire. Its behavior was little in
convenient, however. because a fire drill had
been arranged for the express benefit of Mrs. j.
Ellen Foster. special agent of President Roose-
welt for the investigation of the conditions OF
labor affecting women and children. and repre-
sentatives OF the National Civic Federation, the
National Consumers League. the State Depart
ment of Labor and the Fire and Police depart
ments were also present. H. F. j. Porter, VINO
devised the system of factory fire drill and was
experimenting the exhibition tried to coax the
refractory alarm for a while. with the assistance
OF L. o. Haas, one OF the members of the firm.
but it was obdurate and the alarm had TO be
given by other means. Mr. Porter said he was
glad the fire alarm refused to work. as it showed
the unpremeditated character Of the drill and
also the importance OF testing the mechanism
every day. Mr.. Haas added that he was going
to have the dry battery replaced by a wet one,
the latter more reliable.
The failure Of the alarm resulted in the drills
taking place at 1910 instead of at noon, as had
been arranged. and in the emptying OF each
floor separately. The visitors followed the pro-
cess from floor 10 floor.
The largest amount of time required for the
clearing Of any floor three minutes ana
twelve seconds the shortest one minute and
forty seconds. On the three minute floor. the
fourth three hundred old women were en-
ployed in sorting and stripping the tobacco, and
their movements were necessarily slower than
those Of the younger employees After leaving
the room they had 10 descend three stairWays TO
the street. On the sixth floor four hundred and
fifty young girls ard men escaped to the roofs or
the adjoining tenements. which are the property
of the company, in one minute and forty sec
onds They had the advantage of three exits
constructed since the institution OF the fire drill
The occupants of the fifth floor crossed by a
bridge into another building which constitutes
part of the factory and in some way 1t
was arranged that each floor should have
an entirely independent means Of egress
10 the street. If they had all had to go
down the same stairway il would have taken
about half hour to get them out. The sew
enth floor people, however. had to come down
a stair TO the sixth floor and use one of the
three exits TO the roofs OF the tenements. The
fire escapes We're not used at all. and Mr. Por-
ter said that his experience with fire drills had
taught him that they were almost useless
means Of escape
People are afraid to use the fire escapes" he
said. In one factory only 3 per cent of the men
and none Of the women would consent to descend
to the street in that way. Afterward we got the
men TO go down outside. while the women used
the stairway, but later we found 1t best TO avoid
the of the fire escapes whenever possible.
Adequate stairways are much better The fire
escapes, however. have their uses. This build
ing could be emptied of its twenty-five hundred
people in four minutes and fifteen seconds. The
Fire Department would arrive in two minutes
and would find the stairways blocked by
stream of humanity. But 1t would not be neces-
SoIN LOT lIeTn 10 WalI ulllll lne people were out
They could enter by the fire escapes
Mr.. Porter said IL took about twenty lessons
TO perfect the fire drill and overcome the ner-
Vousness that many women feel at the mere
sound of a fire alarm. In one case. he stated,
three girls tainted at the first drill although
perfectly aware that the alarm was a false one.
Among those who witnessed the drill, in addi-
ton TO Mrs Foster, were Mrs Frederick Nathan,
Of the Consumers League; z. Stagg Whiten, of
the Civic Federation; Superintendent w. Wall
Ing of the State Labor Bureau. E. r. Hardy. Of
the New York Fire Insurance Exchange. and
Captain Matthew Hicks. retired from the city
Fire Department, and now supervisor OF the
factory fire drills. Mrs. Foster said sho was de-
lighted with the exhibition, both from the stand
point Of economies and of humanity.