New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1914-03-18
children Would Not Have
Chance for Life, Says
Charles q. Armstrong.
EXPERIENCE HAS
TAUGHT NOTHING
New Buildings Almost as Bad as
Old Ones, Engineer De
ClareS in Report.

charles c.. -hLl-ASNl N449f q NCl-oNiN44i9
,rgfreer. made public yesterday. In
mite Of the "drcproof" construction Of
,te new schools 100000 children ana
,oacbers. says Mr.. Armstrong. ate i'm
daily peril through the ignoranJ e or
.are,essness of the Board of Hduca-
zion in allowing many starting points
for fire TO exist.
IN an article i'm the CURRENT issue of
Fire Prevention" a publication of the
American Society for Fire Proven
zion. Mr.. Armstrong begins a series of
expo,ures of the dangerous conditions
no found in the public school system
If this city i'm tho course Of a two
years examination
Danger Seen Two Years Ago.
The most prominent feature of his
article lies Do the fact that as consult
ing engineer To- the committee on
school inquiry Of the Board Of Esti-
mate Mr. Armstrong two years ago
toiuted ont the risks incurred daily
nv the school children. That COM
mittee was made up of Mayor Mitchell,
then President of the Board Of Alder
men. who was chairman; Controller
Prendereast and Cyrus c. Miller, for
merry President Of Bronx Borough.
The Board Of Estimate committee re-
forred the report, with subsequent
ones. 10 the committee on buildings Of
the Board OF Education. That body
has not vet reported back to the board
IFS findings. Thomas w. Churchill
resident of the Board OF Education,
said yesterday that until the committee
reported Mr.. Armstrong; findings
would not come 70 him officially.
The time is about ripe he said,
for the committee TO make a report,
and then the board will pay attention
10 the matter
"They have learned nothing by eN-
perience." begins the consulting engi-
neers exposure of the fire traps. The
old school buildings are fire traps, all
Of them, and deadly ones. The new
structures also are fire traps, all Of
them. if in a lesser degree. That the city
has not been plunged into grief and
horror by a holocaust Of its precious
charges. that it has not been inflicted
with the terrifying spectacle Of hun
dreds Of helpless little ones sacrificed
in a furnace formed in a few moments,
is not because precautions have been
taken against the possibility of such a
catastrophe. 1t is because chance so
far has favored us and because We
have an extremely efficient Fire De
partment"
Fuel for Flames Aplenty,
The investigation Of the public school
system extended over a period Of two
Years. and included more than sixty
buildings, some Of them so new that
the plaster was hardly dry on the
walls The old ones were not found to
he freproof structures. and examples Of
allowing waste litter and other inflam-
mable materials to gather in the base
ments and furnace rooms were many.
Steam pipes were found TO be sheathed
with oll-soaked wood. offering ready
fuel for flames.
The most fragrant example Of faulty
construction in the new buildings is
cited at Public School %, in Corona.
The building itself. the engineer
states. IS freproof and admirably de-
signed, hut in the. event Of a fire in
the basement II would prove to be a
stove, as Fire Chief Kenlon describes
such buildings.
For some unaccountable reason" the
steam pipes In the basement, amid en-
glnes and boilers, were found lying on
The concrete floor. instead Of having
been nun along the ceiling or sunk in a
channel below the floor level. To re-
move danger Of stumbling, the pipes,
without asbestos covering, are boxed in
wood There are two or three thou
sand feet Of this covering. all not only
highly irfammable Of itself. but made
more so from the frequent dripping Of
oil from cans.
Other Schools Dangerous.
Nr. Armstrong says that flames
would Gy along the oil soaked boxes so
quickly that escape from parts Of the
Basement would be cut off, while smoke
and fame would be drawn through the
aues into the schoolrooms.
Unusual features are found in Public
Schools 60. at Hester and Essex
streets and 40. -. which adioins It in
Norfolk street The first is a new
school but the second is old. The new
building was equipped with a heating
plant sufficient for both schools, the
engineer says, but the plants We're OPP
Grated separately. q recent fire over
lhe boilers was put out by good luck.
~ The older buildings. the report made
.H 1879 dealt in more severe terms. A
photograph OF Erasmus High School, I'm
brooklyn showed wooden fire escapes the
Only emergency exits FOR classes I'm a
wooden Wing ~ that building W. -.
'1nnls9u. principal Of the school said
4N night that no violations ever had
''en flied on tho building by the Fire De
haflment and that the wooden wing was
me afest part Of the whole high school.
'h account ~ the small classes and the
ease With which the street could be
reached.
There are" said Mr. Armstrong.
many more examples Of similar risks
'hich J found. and which intend 70 dig
zone lu Tho future frteen will ie mr.