Essex County herald. [volume] (Guildhall, Vt.) 1873-1964, 1908-03-20
AMERICAN FIRE TRAPS
CollinWood Disaster No Surprise.
Says Government Expert.
TIRE DRILLS NOT ENOUGH.
Erection OF Buildings Having Greatest
Resistance to Confls grations Needed,
Says Richard L. Humphrey-Sehools
Two Stories In Height Favored.

If Europe the per capita loss from
fires is 81 cents. In the United States
the per capita losses from iires yearly
exceeds $50. In Eur e shr chief eff
fort in the construction of buildings is
to put into them fire resisting ma
terials. lu the United States more
thought and money are devoted 10 the
establishment of costly fire depart
ments.
These general statements are i'll
cludVl in an Interview recently made
public at Washington by Richard L..
Humphrey. engineer in charge OF the
structural material laboratories of the
government, who has made u special
study Of iireprooling.
The catastrophe ut CollinwOOd. o.,
the other day" said Mr.. Humphrey,
did not result from exceptional condi
tions, but conditions that are TO be
found in thousands of instances
throughout the United States The
same or even worse fire traps prevail in
every village and town and indeed In
many of the large cities. Even where
municipal laws are supposed to govern
erection of such structures the cOudi-
tons are often worse than in Collin
wood Such calamatieS AS we have
had the few months of this year do
not come as a matter of surprise to
any one versed Oh the subject. The
npl. Il. Ian .,,t tta
phes do not occur more frequently
throughout this great country.
The newspapers are now filled with
statements made by school officials,
calling attention to the necessity of fire
drills-that these fire drills will pre-
vent the loss of life from fire. Neces-
sary and excellent as they are in their
place. nothing could he more fallacious
than such Il general proposition. What
is needed. as has been repeatedly point
ed out, Is the erection of structures
which have the greatest resistance to
fire From what | can learn. the fire
drill AT cullinwood had started. but
the school building was such q timsy
finder box that the fire travelled through
the Railways and up the stairs faster
than any possible fire drill. In such Il
building-and there are many of them
the fire will always win the race over
the frantic children. Had the interior
OF the Colinwood school been reason
ably tireproof the loss of life would
have been very much less, and posi-
bly, no lives would have been lost.
Laws should he enacted to prohibit
the erection of anything except struc-
ture of the highest fire resisting type,
especially when it is TO be used as Il
school, hospital, theater or other struc-
ture In which people assemble in large
numbers. who In the event OF a great
fire. such as happened at Collinwood,
would be TO a certain extent helpless.
In our hospitals and public schools 1t
would appear unWise to erect struc-
lures of more than two stories in
height In such buildings, IN addition
to wide StairwayS, | would have one
or two chutes or tubes leading from
the top story to the ground. These
NuuIt pIpNC lot ohit Suiti th''''
fire escapes, but also a much more
rapid means of exit.
The question of the height OF build
ings and the character of the interior
structures is continually agitating pub
lie officials, but commercial interests
appear to dominate, aud buildings are
erected that are known not 10 be the
most safe for the purpose, This condi-
tion pertains as much to municipal
structures as to any other class OF
buildings 1t is fact flat the money
available for schools, hospitals and
other municipal structures is usually
inadequate for the purpose. and the
officials in charge, in order to keep
within the appropriation, are forced to
erect cheap, fimsy buildings that are
not fireproof
while the relative fire resisting
qualities of fireproof materials are not
vet entirely established. it is a fact
that these properties are sufficiently
we'll known to permit the erection Of
reasonably 6reproof structures. Yet
In the face of all this buildings are
continually being erected with mate
rails 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 n
miracle that great fire has not wiped
out the greater part of the business
district.
"rhe remedy for these conditions is
not in elaborate systems for fighting
fire or. say. elaborate fire drills. which
may or may not be effectively carried
out, but in the enactment of strict
! municipal laws compelling the erection
| of structures entirely lireproofed with
materials of the highest quality and
especially in the prevention of the
erection of fimsy structures where wo-
men and children gather in large num-
bers-as. for example, schools, the
nters, hospitals and similar buildings.
IT is a matter of record, borne out
by insurance statistics, that the United
States spends enormous sums of mon
~ III pFoNlutHS equipments ioi hSht-
Ing fires. while foreign countries spend
their money in building structures
which offer the greatest resistance to
| lire
Concrete for building purposes has
been demonstrated to be one of the
very best materials for tireproofing
purposes. and its, increased use will
| add materially to the public safety"