Grant County herald. [volume] (Lancaster, Wis.) 1850-1968, 1908-04-15
AMERICAN FIRE TRAPS
CollinWood Disaster No Surprise,
Says Government Expert.
FIRE DRILLS NOT ENOUGH.

In twenty-one of the principal cities
of Europe the per capita loss from
fires is 80 cents. In the United States
the per capita losses from fires yearly
exceeds $3.50 In Europe the chief eff
fort in the construction of buildings is
to put into them fire resisting ma
terials. In the United States more
thought and money are devoted to the
establishment of costly fire depart
mentS.
These general statements are in
Guided 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 special
study of fireproofing.
1.-THE catastrophe at 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 condi-
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 on the subject. The
only surprise is that these catastro-
Plies do not occur more frequently
throughout this great country.
THE newspapers are now filed 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 be more fallaciOus
than such a 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 Collinwood had started, but
the school building was such a fiimsy
finder box that the fire travelled through
the Railways and up the stairs faster
than any possible fire drill. In such q
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 reason
ably fireproOf the loss of life would
have been very much less, and posi-
bly, no lives would have been lost
Laws should be enacted to prohibit
the erection of anything except struc-
ture Of the highest fire resisting type,
especially when 1t is to be used as a
school, hospital, theater or other Struc-
ture in which people assemble In large
numbers, who In the event OF great
fire, such as happened at Collinwood,
would be to q 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, l would have one
or two chutes or tubes leading from
the top story to the ground. These
would prove not only much safer than
fire escapes, but also 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, and buildings are
! erected that are known not TO be the
most safe for the purpose. This condi-
J ton pertains as much to municipal
! structures as to any other class or
buildings 1t is a fact that 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, flimsy buildings that are
not f1reproof.
"While the relative fire resisting
qualities of fireproof materials are not
| yet entirely established, it is a fact
that these properties are sufficiently
well known to permit the erection or
! reasonably fireproof 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 q menace to the cities in which
they are erected The city Of New
York is full Of fire traps, and it is q
miracle that a great fire has not wiped
out the greater part of the business
district
"The 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 fireproofed with
materials of the highest quality and
especially in the prevention OF the
erection of flimsy structures where Wo-
men and children gather in large num-
bers-as, for example, schools, the
aters, hospitals and similar buildings.
"It is a matter of record, borne out
| by insurance statistics, that the United
! States SDendS enormous sums of mon