The San Francisco call., 1909-04-17
MANY PLACES
IN DANGER OF
THE SAME FATE
Horror in St. George Calls At
tentiOn to Existence of
Other Fire Traps
Authorities Are Determined
That Unsafe Buildings
Must Be Vacated

That the St George hotel was fire
trap OF the most dangerous sort. and
met a fate that may overtske many
cheap lodging houses in the neighbor-
hOod OF yesterday mornings catastro-
phe. IS asserted by Chief OF the Fire
Department Patrick Shaughnessy. Fire
= arshal Charles Towe and Charles A
Day, president Of the board Of public
works. The latter was so shocked by the
tragic deaths in the big lodging hive that
he declared an immediate investigation
should be made OF all such buildings
and a recommendation made TO the
board Of supervisors that they be va
Gated for lodging purposes. Inspectors
were given positive orders to prepare
data on all buildings Of like nature.
and when this report is complete the
recommendation to the supervisors viii
be made
J. p. Horgan, chief building inspector
or the board OF public works, is in
entire sympathy with the campaign TO
clear the city OF such structures. Ac-
oording to the city ordinance all such
buildings must go by May 10, 1910. but
Horgan is arrayed with his chief in an
effort 10 have the houses declared un-
lawful to be used as & herding place
Tor human beings until that time.
NEIGHBoRs PROTESTED
The St. George itself was built in
spite Of storm Of protest from neigh
bors. whose vehemence resulted in the
arrest Of John ". Shanahan, owner of
The building. and his appearance in the
police court. The court instructed
Shanahan TO provide a greater number
OF exits to the hotel, and under the
direction OF Inspector Horgan and
Thomas Murphy, battalion chief Of the
fire department, three FIRE escapes, a
standpipe and three stsirWays were
constructed. Even after the building
was in process OF construction, Horgan
compelled Shanahan to alter his hall
ways so that they would give way Of
escape in ease OF fire 10 as many lodg
ers as could crowd down their narrow
lengths.
The building was constructed by Mel
son & Sheehan. and the plans for il
drawn by Nelson himself. who came
here from Los Angeles to engage in the
contracting business after the fire. Both
OF the contractors protested at the
alterations being made. as. under the
law only two FIRE escapes and two
stairways are required for a building
OF less than 10000 square feet floor
space.
COMPELLED ALTERATIONS
The lodging house was as well pro-
q ~ VI 1c d.
ine cf its kind could be" Chief In
spector Horgan said yesterday. I'VE
had these extra escapes and stairways
pat IN and forced them 10 alter the
halls 50 as TO make more room. The
fault did not lie in the means of get
ting away from the building. but in the
building itself which was of such con-
struction that il would have been i'm
possible for IL to have been anything
but q death trap. l am in favor, and
always have been. OF having class c
buildings only allowed for lodging
house purposes. AS long as these kind
Of dungeons are allowed to go up We
are helpless. though we do all we can
10 make the structures as safe as ii is
possible 70 make them
There are many such traps" Fire
Marshal Charles Towe declared yester-
day They are a menace to life. and
p great menace 10 the whole city. for q
whirl wind. and it requires gigantic
efforts 70 stay the flames
FIRE TRAP. SAYS CHIEF
The thing was fire trap" Chief
Shaughnessy said. The house was ar
ranged in rows. so 10 speak, with a tier
of rooms then a light well stretching
across the building. another row of
rooms and a hall, another row of rooms
and q light well, etc The light wells.
IS regular h0es, and the flames roared
through them in q gale. Why when
arrived on the scene the whole thing
was roaring IN a mass Of fire"
Charles c. Day, president Of the
board OF works, made the following
statement. The building was what.
might be called well constructed
shack. but II was fire trap Of the
worst kind. There are hundreds OF
buildings all over town like il in con-
struction. and none Of them is built
according 70 the provisions Of the law
as the law is now But you must re-
member that this building was put up
when inspection was very lax. The
e.ftv government was disorganized after
the fire and many buildings went up
that would not. Of course, be tolerated
now. ] agree with Chief Inspector Hor-
gan that all lodging houses should be
class c buildings This structure was
about class y.
MUST BE VACATED
Il have notified our inspectors to
make = careful inspection OF all build
ines OF similar nature throughout the
city and when the report is complete
the board viii recommend to the su-
pervisors that all such fire traps be
vacated for lodging purposes The
places are merely lofts. with fiimsy
partitions put in here and there. The
members OF the board OF works intend
10 do ali in their power TO stop the
OCCUPANCY Of buildings OF such char
acter s lodging houses
Commissioners Day and McGilvray
visited the scene or the FIRE yesterday.
They communicated with Dan O'CaI-
lsglan. agent for the building. and
ordered him TO have the debris re-
moved from the lot, so that all corpses
in the mass Of charred wood and ashes
may be recovered.
Il is q noteworthy fact that the fire
- IS for freproof buildings passes
wifhin a few feet Of the burned lodging
house II runs up Howard 10 Sixth
street. and then over almost TO Mis-
sion. running up Mission to Ninth. The
line passes within a few feet OF the