Atlanta Georgian. [volume] (Atlanta, Ga.) 1912-1939, 1914-03-02
PUPILS
MARCH To
SAFETY
Boys Put Out Blaze in CIoakroom,
1000 Children Sent Home
From Cold CIaSSrooms.

In less than so seconds after the
fire gong sounded in the Peoples
Street School Monday, 500 pupils were
out of the school and the boys of the
eighth grade had checked a blaze in
their courtroom with the hand eXtin-
guisher, which otherwise would have
been beyond control and probably
would have destroyed the building be-
fore the fire companies could ar
rive
At the same time about 1000 of the
% 600 school children in Atlanta were
dismissed for the day from seven of
the schools because of inadequate
hea ting facility.
That should prove conclusively, +"
said Superintendent of Schools Will
liam NJ slaton, that my scoffed ut
contention that we need better heat
ing appara tus in the schools is the
truth"
Not Safe to Use Furnace.
Five hundred pupils were dismissed
from the Peoples Street School after
the fire, because it was not safe to
build another big fire in the furnace.
The fire caught in tie baseboarding of
the cloakroom from the main furnace
hue, which became overheated.
Due to the efforts of Miss Sarah
Sasnett. teacher of the eighth grade;
Miss Jones, the superintendent; Jani-
tor Robert Smith and the boys with
the hand fire eXtinguishers, the dam
age to the school building was tri-
fling.
About $50 pupils were sent home
from three unheated classrooms in
Grant Park School $50 were dis
missed from William F. Slaton School,
900 from the Fraser School, ESQ from
Edgewood School, 25O from the Girls
High School and $50 from the Eng
Gsh- Commercial School.
in Edgewood," said Superinten-
cent Slaton, the temperature on the
north side of the school was down to
| IS degrees above zero. The tempera-
lures in the rooms dismissed at the
other schools ranged from rs to 30
degrees above zero. The temperature
in a schoolroom should be at least IS
or TO-
Fire Drill Saves Day.
81 consider it a remarkably notable
fact that the use Of the hand fire eX-
tinguishers and the efficacy of the fire
drill at the Peoples Street School saw
ed the day. With these two safety
valves to fall back upon, practically
no damage is recorded. But think
what might have happened had there
been no fire extingulshers in the
school and no fire drill among the
children"
Some Of the boys in the eighth
grade at the Peoples School smelled
wood smoke. When the boys called
the attention of Miss Sasnett to the
smoke she ran to the main corridor
Of the building and sounded the gen
eral alarm of fire.
Then she hurried to the front of the
! building ana sounded lHe CllN w
alarm. then ran back to her room and
watched the janitor and her pupils
use the hand extinguishers on the
| cloakroom blaze.
Children File Out Quietly.
Immediately the tre gong sounded,
| the 500 children in the different class
rooms on the different floors of the
! building arose from their benches aud
| formed in marching order There
was hardly an appreciable space OF
! time between the sounding of the fire
gong and the appearance Of the dou-
! Bile column Of boys and girls march
! ing rapidly, but quietly and in order
/ ~ fashion. from the entrances to the
! building
The children remained quietly in
the school yard, not breaking ranks
even when the fire engines charged
down the street and stopped at the
! building
Miss Sasnett and Miss Jones camc
ont and stopped the firemen as they
were getting ready their apparatus
telling them tho fire had been eXtin-
| guishcd.
Their Miss Jones dismissed the