New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1912-07-31
FAST TIME MADE IN
FACTORY FIRE DRILLS
Tests Ordered by Law To Be
Instituted in October Car
ried Out Voluntarily.
TRIAL WITHOUT CONFUSION
Aisles Quickly Cleared and
Each Worker Seeks Out the
Particular Exit Allot-
ted to Him.


shake il up there. shake it up: Get
o move on you, Hold your skirts up. an
hurry Aw-can't you hurry"
No. II was net a subway guard shooting
,sssengers off train. 1t vas one OF the
ooor overseers in the loft building at No.
20, West 9th street, directing fire drill
ono Of those fire drills which the law
saws must be held, beginning next oc-
,oher al least once in three months in
every factory in New York.
81 present they are held only where
The conscience Of the factory owner die
,ates. and apparently conscience isn't
their long suit, for of all the thousands OF
factories In this city. only about dozen
have regular fire drills now. These fig
rres are according TO Miss Frances
Perkins. executive secretary OF the Com
mite on Safety, and George NJ. WOOD,
an engineer. who IS employed by the fac
tory owners with consciences TO organize
fire drills and suggest ways Of protect
inr their employees against the danger OF
fire.
Yesterdays fire drills, conducted in two
West Side loft buildings where garments
are made. were got up by Mr.. Wood
for the benefit Of Miss Perkins, who
though she has inspected many factories
in the few months she has been secre-
tary Of the Committee on Safety, had
never seen a room full Of workers cleared
out by the changing of a gong
Operation Not Exciting.
II really is a very unexciting operation.
If fire drills could be staged with smoke
and some engines sounding outside, they
might seem thrilling, but without these
accessories they are quiet little anairs'
Maybe the sight yesterday of Miss
Perkins. 4. ]. Sheldon, Henry Mosko-
WITT. Henry Morgenthau, Peter Brody,
Miss Mary Dreier and other members or
the committee and lot Of reporters, all
solemnly lined up near the fire exit with
notebooks in their hands, gave the EN-
ployes a bunch that something not UNI
connected with fire drills was going to
happen; but anyhow the girls went arm
in arm down the iron stairs of the fire
escapes chewing gum and conversins to-
gether about their new back hair or some
thing equally pleasant.
Not but what they got out quickly. The
ninth floor of the building at No. 81 West
96th street--a crowded floor, too, with two
hundred workers, sitting elbow TO elbow
al machines not more than two feet and
six inches apart, and the machines
hcapcd high with fiimsy garments-it took
but thirty seconds to clear this floor. AID
in three and Cne-half minutes from the
time the gong sounded every soul of the
eight hundred i'm the building was down
on the street 10 the alarm OF the neigh
borhood and the startled surprise of the
policeman on the beat The first thing
they did when they heard the gong was
In swing their chairs on the tables or
machines. Anybody not educated by
drill would probably not think OF mat
but IL is very important. when people are
sitting at machines only two and one-half
feet apart, for each 10 help clear the way.
Then they made, some for the ireproof
stairs. some for the fire-escapes.
a Place for Every One.
Every worker in these fire drill fac
tories knows which exit he is to seek In
case Of fire. The tenth, eleventh and
twelfth floors go to the roof, where the
building adjoins another, to which they
can escape.
IN less than ten minutes from the
alarm at No. 81 West 26th street the girls
were pouring back to their work from the
street and the roof Some of them being
on piecework. didn't like this Interrupt
ton TO business.
L lose % cents alretty NIT dis fire drill"
muttered black-eyed little Yiddish girl.
Yes. 1t will pc % cents before L get
stharted again. And who pays me for
dot. say?'
The two loft buildings visited yester-
day were factories de iuXe-clean, bright,
and said to be fireproof That at No, 81
West 18th street was provided with two
stairways and fre-escape. and the own
ers are going TO build horizontal escapes
across the narrow court TO the rear of the
building in line with IT in 9th street
street.
Miss Perkins says the horizontal es-
capes are the best by far. The fire es-
cape at No l21 West 9th street showed
broad landings and shallow steps, though
the steps were made of iron rods. with
spaces between. which gave one a sensa-
ton Of being suspended In midair. One
Of the bosses In the building said that
the fire escapes weren't rightly built
There are too many sharp turns in
them" he said. Though II is true that
the other day, when somebody rang the
alarm by mistake. and all thought there
was q real fire, this building was cleared
in 10 time"
New Style Fire Escapes.
Compare this fire escape with those
on many ~ buildings" said Miss