The West Virginian. [volume] (Fairmont, W. Va.) 1914-1974, 1915-03-25
TODAY WE CELEBRATE.
"iansIe Fire Anniversary to E
COMMUNICATED Today.


Today is the fourth anniversary of
the terrible Triangle shirtwaist fac
tory fire in New York, in which lat
persons, mostly girls, lost their lives,
and more than half a hundred were
injured. The survivors of this horror,
and the relatives and friends of the
victims, will commemorate the ami
versary, and the fire department of
ficials of the American metropolis
will, as on past anniversaries, take
advantage of the memories of that
dag to impress upon the people the
necessity for better protection against
fire.
It is admitted that New York, in
common with many other cities in
America, still harbors numerous fire.
traps in which repetition Of the
Triangle horror is possible, but great
improvements have been made as a
result of the Investigations following
that conflagration. Owners of build
ings and employers of labor have been
impressed by the lessons of the Tri-
angle disaster.
One of the most vital of these les
sons is the necessity of fire drills in
schools and factories. Even in sup.
posedly flreproof buildings, supplied
with every protection, it has been
found that many of the workers are
ignorant of the location of fire exits
and the use of fire appliances in case
OF emergency.
AS a result of the Triangle fire, the
workers in many New York buildings
have been SO thoroughly trained by
fire drills that they are able to va
cate in a few minutes. One New
York factory building has SO perfected
the drill that $500 employees can
reach the street in six minutes, and
in another history edifice 1000 work
ers have been dismissed in five min
utes. In multitude of buildings there
have been organized interior fire bri-
gades trained to handle certain fire
apparatus, and when the alarm rings
to take definite stations.
1t has been discovered. as a result
of the investigation following the Tri.
angle disaster, that six-tenths of the
fires in New York are caused by care
lessness-the lighted cigar and cigar
cite and the youngster-playing-w
matches leading the procession.
Coupled with this carelessness is the
negligence in the disposal of infiam-
able waste. in Sparkling motors, in
urcleaned chimneys, careless electri-
cal wiring, and dozens OF other ways.
The enforcement of the "no smoking
law in factories, cleanliness, and an
automatic sprinkler equipment. con-
stitute the principal measures recon-
mended to prevent such horrors as the
Triangle fire. The provision of ade-
Quate means OF escape, coupled with
the fire drill, should be enforced, say
the investigators, even in buildings
containing the most perfect of fire
prevention appliances.
1t is declared that no building can
be made absolutely ,fire-proof, but
proper building construction is never
theless highly important. In this
matter most American cities lag far
behind Europe. New York City has
300 fires per hundred thousand popula.
tior. as compared with 81 in Berlin,
81 in London, rs in Petrograd. "a in
Paris, and SO in Vienna. The fire
loss in the United States is about
eight times that OF Europe. and this is
largely due, say the experts, to
Europe's superior building construc-
ton. In fre-hghting the United
States leads the world in effectiveness
but this is case where an ounce
of prevention far outweights a pound
of cure.