Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1908-12-15
Continued from First Page.0'


air. to form foul air ducts and to in
close steam stacks.
"In the Curtis building the walls are
furred with studding, the plasterlns Is
broken off in places. especially in tne
basement, exposing the air spaces. Also
wood Turing is used in the RANKIN
building. Rather excessive use of wood
for fuel bins was noted.
Wooden Staircases.
Many buildings have stainrcases
| wood. with open ratings. These are the
older buildings. but during the past season
portions Of the staircases in these build
ings have been replaced with f1reproof
stairs from the Easements to the first
floors.
Very few of the buildings have fire.
proof Railways. particularly two-story
buildings. There seems to have been
period when the three-Story buildings
were erected with f1reproof halls. as
shown by the Peabody. Dennison. Force
and Grant.
There is another class of fire hazards
, which relates to the location of the build
ing with regard to surrounding property.
| 'Generaly speaking, the buildings are
sufficiently isolated. In a few cases there
are wooden sheds which extend between
the school building and abutting property.
The most noticeable hazard for location
was the Garrison, about nine feet from a
| wood yard which at one time burned and
| communicated fire to the schoolhouse.
| The building was damaged considerably
and embraced one of the two exits.
Suggestions as to Exits
Numerous detailed suggestions are made
by the committee while on the question OF
exits, looking to minor changes In exits
| in the older buildings and to the adoption
| of a standard door Of not too great size
| and the exercise of care in the arrange
ment of doors in exits and corridors lead
| ing from stairways to exits. especially In
| the older buildings. One or two serious
defects were made the subject of spec
| cial report to the Engineer Commissioners.
which has resulted in the changing of the
doors.
! Regarding the doorways at some of the
schools the committee reported:
| 1.-THE Webster building has a doorway
| to a yard from which there is no exit
| This is not used much. but IN, time OF
danger it might be mistaken for q means
! of escape. There are a number of build
| ings which have restricted exits from
Easements and some which have none at
all. except the continuation of the main
staircases; the latter applies to some OF
| the most recent buildings.
"As the starting point of a fire might
| he in the basement. it is desirable to give
the children means OF exit without
| traversing the basement. A large crowd
| the windows have iron gratings the
| means Of escape might be cut off. The
committee would recommend that direct
exits be made from playrooms.
Defects in Birney Building.
'sIn the Birney building the usual first
floor exit, forming a. direct outlet from
one of the main staircases, south side.
| was omitted. The stairs are five feet
wide; there was provided. however, a mar
row door and stairs to the basement, and
thence narrow door to the yard. The
doors are feet II inches wide The COM
mittee would recommend that the usual
| exit be provided from the first floor in
| this building at the south end of the hall
| way
"A few buildings are provided with only
one exit from the first floor. The Berrer
is particularly deficient for SO large
building. The Orr building has but one
exit from first floor through heavy doors
which require considerable force to open
when the wind blows owing to The eX-
posed location.
within the buildings there are many
| cases of doorways which are too narrow
especially from cloakrooms, which, as
matter OF fact, are the real exits. The
committee would recommend that stand
ara sizes OF doorways be used for class
and cloakrooms.
"a class of defects in doorway. is
where one door interferes with another
so as 10 block the use of one or both, and
| also where they partially block stair
ways. The Berret and Lincoln were SO
noticeable in this respect that they were
| made the subject of special report, and
| the doors have been changed
| I'm the Peabody the conditions are near
ly as bad, but could be easily remedied by
| removing the doors to class and cloak
rooms and placing the classroom doors in
the diagonal archways leading to each
|schooroom. A half dozen other buildings
hIIf of of
Gus nature. In the J. F.. Cook building,
a door opens sixteen inches across the
foot of one stairway.
Defects in Stairways.
| ION the subject of stairs as exits eX-
animation discloses that generally stairs
are of ample size. but in a few cases they
have minor defective arrangement, and in
some cases are not regarded as sufficient
the cases being specifically mentioned in
their report. AS to the construction of the
stairs, criticism of the non-flreproOf stairs
in the older buildings is made, and the
work Of replacing these stairs as was done
was commended.
| THE question of fire extinguishers
was taken up and the committee favors
their installation, but looks with dis
guishers being used except by the
| janitOr believing that the duty Of the
| teachers in case of fire is to look after
| the safety Of the scholars and them
selves. The committee speaks Of the
fire drills and makes suggestions look
ing to the adoption of more variety in
the drills to look to the contingency
that might arise of requiring a class
| during fire to use an exit to which
it is unaccustomed in case the drill fol-
| lows a too fixed line at all times.
Fire Escapes Considered.
ION the subject of fire escapes the COM
mittee, in rather elaborate report, pref
aces it's criticisms by a recognition that it