Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1908-03-08
FEWER FIRE HORRORS
Remedies Suggested. by a
Government Engineer.
STRICT LAWS ARE NEEDED
Height of All Public Buildings
Should Be Limited.
CONDITIONS GENERALLY BAD
Calamities Like Those of Collinwood
and Boyertown Possible. at Pres
emit All Over the Country.
CONDITIONS GENERALLY BAD

Catastrophes such as those at Collin
| wood. Ohio and Boyertown, Pa. are pos
sible in nearly every city and village III
| the United States. according to Rcharu
| L. Humphrey engineer in charge OF the
I structural materials laboratories of the
| government. He declares it is providential
/ that more OF these holocausts have not
| occurred. Mr.. Humphrey. in his Omclai
/ capacity in charge of the structural ma
| terial Investigations being conducted d!
the technologic branch of the United
| States geological survey has mace
| thorough study of fireproofing.
! The shocking catastrophe at Collin
wood Ohio, last Wednesday. which sent
| thrill of horror into every home in the
| country, did not result from exceptional
| conditions but conditions that are to be
found In thousands of instances through
out the United States" said Mr.. hum
phrey last night to a Star reporter
every village and town. and. indeed. IN
| many of the large cities. Even where
municipal laws are supposed to govern
| the erection of such structures the CON
ditions are often worse than in Coll1i-
wood. Such calamitieS as we have had
the few months of this year do not come
as matter of surprise to any one versed
| in the subject. The only surprise Is
that these catastrophies do not occur
more frequently throughout this great
country.
Value of Fire Drills.
THE newspapers are now filled with
statements made by school officials, call
ing attention to the necessity of fire
drills-that these fire drills will prevent
the loss of life from fire. Necessary and
excellent as they are in their place. moth
ing could be more falacious than such a
general proposition. What is needed, as
has been repeatedly pointed out. is the
erection of structures which have the
greatest resistance to fire. From what
can learn, the fire drill at COllinWoOd
had started, but the school building was
such a f1imsy finder box that the nre
travelled through the Railways and up
the stairs faster than any possible fire
drill In such building. and there are
many of them, the fire will always win.
the race over the frantic children HAD
the interior of the Collinwood school been
rea sonably fireproof the loss of life would
have been very much less and possibly no
lives would have been lost.
Laws should be enacted to prohibit the
erection of anything except a structure OF
the highest tire-resistlng type. especially
when it is to be used as a school, mos
pital theater or other structure In which
people assemble in large numbers, who,
in the event of great fire. SUCH as nap
pened at CollnwOod. would be TO GER
tain extent helpless. In our hospitals and
public schools it would appear unwise to
erect structures of more than two stories
in height In such buildings, in addl-
ton to wide starways. l would nave one
or two chutes or tubes leading from the
ton story to the ground. These would
prove not only much safer than fire es-
ca pes but also a much more rapid means
of exit.
Height of Buildings.
THE question of the height of build
ings and the character of the interior
structures is continually agitating public
officials but commercial interests seem
to dominate, and buildings are erected
that are known not to be the most safe
for the purpose. This condition pertains
as much to municipal structures as to any
other class of buildings. 1t Is fact that
the money available for schools, hospitals
and other municipal structures Is usually
! inadequate for the purpose. and the Off
Gals in charge, i'm order to keep within
| the appropriation, are forced to erect
cheap flimsy buildings that are not fire.
proof.
While the relative fire-resisting quail
| ties of freproof materials is not yet en-
| tirely established, it is d fact that these
properties are sufficiently well known to
permit the erection of reasonably fire.
proof structures. Yet in the face of all
| this buildings are continually being erect
| ed with materials known not to possess
| an adequate resistance to fire, and these
| buildings are menace to the cities in
which they are erected.
THE city of New York is full of fire.
| traps. and it is a miracle that a great
| fire has not wiped out the greater part of
| the business district.
The Only Remedy.
THE remedy for these conditions is not
| in elaborate systems for fighting fire or
any elaborate fire drills, which may or
| the enactment of strict municipal laws
compelling the erection of structures en-
! tirely fireproofed with materials of the
highest quality, and especially in the pre-
vention of the erection of tiimsy struc
lures, where women and children gather
| in large numbers, as for example schools,
theaters. hospitals and similar buildings.
Unless such action is taken greater ca
| lamit1eS than those a COllinWoOd and
Boyerstown. attended by even greater loss
| of life. will undoubtedly occur.
THE continual increase in the height of
buildings. for office mercantile pur-
poses as for example in the city of New
York, gives rise to many problems. One
of the most important is the question of
handling through the streets the immense
population crowded in a very small dis
trict. AS this congestion increases
through the erection of these great build
ings it will be necessary in the near flu
ture to double-deck the streets in order to
accommodate this immense population and
also to multiply the present transporta-
ton facilities. 1t is apparent, therefore,
that a great calamity in the shape of
fire such as visited Baltimore and San
Francisco must necessarily be the means
of destroying the lives of many people
who would be unable to get away in safe
ty with the facilities now existing.
buildings should not be erected so
high as to prevent the fire department
from tighting a blaze in the upper parts