Devils Lake inter-ocean. (Devils Lake, N.D.) 1909-1915, 1913-06-13
SCHOOL, SHOULD
!. /. Be 3 | EPROOFEE:|DI.
Estimated That a School Fire
Occurs Each DJaJy.
FACTS SHOULD Be HEEDED.

Assertion Made That 100000 School
houses In This Country Were Built
4 to Burn and That 100000 Pupils
Are In Peril Daily-PubIie Schools
the Safest. aes s a. 5i;sa
Perilous conditions prevail in school
buildings Of fully 400 cities of this
country, according to survey just
made by fire insurance authority. In
the published list, in which practically
every state in the Union is represented,
1t is pointed out that even in the
largest and most progressive cities
the public authorities have much work
to do to protect school children from
the dangers Of fire and panic. And
this notwithstanding the fact that FREE
quent inspections have been made or
are being made and improvements
continually ordered by those in au-
thority. 4
An analysis of conditions surround
ing schoolhouse construction in the
United States and Canada, combined
with a scrutiny Of a list Of school fires
published in Insurance Engineering,
covering the years 1911 and 1912 and
two months and half of the present
year, is the basis of that Journals as
sertion that more than 250,000 school
houses in this country have been sbuilt
to burn" 5z = ESsss#
Every state in the Union and many
Canadian provinces are included in
the. investigation, which comprises
nearly 400 cities. The conclusion
reached is that most of the 100000
school children and students in the
roll of cities enumerated are In cen
slant peril from fire and panic because
of the fact that they are housed In
buildings that are fire traps.
Within the period and area covered
the estimated average fire loss per
school fire is placed at $4,000 In
I 1911 the value of school and college
buildings destroyed by fire was APP
proximately $3.O00.0O0 A considerable
increase over this figure was recorded
in 1912, and the prediction is made
that if something is not done to after
the style Of construction the fire losses
in school, buildings for 1918 will be
nearer the 100000 mark.
I Estimates of the prevailing frequen-
3cy of fires in schools are as high as ten
a week, although the Incompetence Of
the reports makes. it impossible to place
the figures exactly It is considered
safe to say, however, that school, col
lege or some other sort Of educational
building burns partially or completely
each 'day,in a school year.
Conditions typical of those which OBJ
tain generally have been disclosed by
investigations of the state factory In
spector in Iowa. His report showed
that one-half Of the school buildings In
that state were totally unfit for usesin
one way or another. And the iuyesti-
gators of the education department. of
the Sage foundation found the same
conditions to the schools of the second
richest community in the United States.
The dangers are not confined by any
means to the public schools. On the
contrary, out of 265 fires counted ina
period of twenty-seven months nearly
90 per cent were in private schools and
colleges.
Overcrowding, insufficient ventilation,
unsafe heating apparatus. combustible
construction. wooden stairways and
doors swinging inward are given 1.-THE
principal sources of danger to school
children. The most recent menace Is
said to be the Introduction of motion
pictures In the schools. II & sEs,
Another indication that conditions
are to become rapidly worse instead ,of
better is pointed out in the character
OF the specif cations for school build
ings to be erected within the present
year. It is asserted that only 10 per
cent Of these call for fireproof construc-s
Hon. Between Jan. !, 1913, and the
middle of March school construction
was particularly active In all 3SS cit
les have been named in the building
periodicals as being engaged in erect
ing schoolhouses. But In only small
proportion Of cases have the authorities
shown any appreciation Of the fact
that school buildings contribute heav-
lily to fire losses and more than any 9TH
er class OF public buildings need b be
fireproofed IN! n
N>u -