Norwich bulletin., 1916-09-01
CHIEF STANTON PRESENTS
 REPORT AT CONVENTION Contains Many Facts and Figures of
 Nationwide Interest.

As chairman of the committee on
 ways and means whereby a'1tona tic
 sprinkler system may be used to best
 adVanage by fire departments as fire
 defense auriliaries Howard l.. Stan
 ton, chief of the Norwich fire depart
 ment, presented the committees re-
 port at the thursday session of the h.
 ternational Association of Fire Eu-
 gineers' annual convention in Provi-, dence, R. 1. The report was accepted
 and at the request of the chairman.
 who spoke in behalf of the members of the committee, the committee was
 continued for another year. Serving
 on the committee with Chief Stanton
 are Chief Frank G. Reynold, 4 ugusta, Ga.; Chief c. w. Ringer, Minneapolis;
 Chief August Gerstung, Elizabeth, N.
 J.; Chief John H. Espey, Elnlira, N. Y: Supt. Salvage, Corps. J. j. Con- way, Cincinnati; T. G. Toomey, Chief
 Fire Protection, Filene Co.,, Boston.
 The report covers ten typewritt an
 pages and is complete and comphrhcn- sive. A summary of the reports foi- lows:
 When in New York in April l thought it would be a good thing to see some sprinkle experts concerning the works of our committee. I called
 on MT. Ira G. Hoagland, an I. \. r. E
 associate member, who has been as6o' ciated for many years with autoIuati5 sprinkler engineering.
 MT. Hoagland suggested that the committee send out printed quc5tiol' sheets together with x stamped en- velopes for their return to the 1. A. F. E. members and in that way get a working knowledge of fire depart ment practices. The committee agreed ] that it would be a good thing to send out the question blanks. Six h2ndre3
 were put into the mail on July Is. The facts, the responses to the l question sheets developed are as fol 1 lows:
 That for the most part sprinkler l systems have fire department steamer 1 connections.
 That while a big majority of those 1 responding thus far to the question sheets profess to use steamer conncc- | tions, only one-half of this number | representing only 40 per cent. Of tho l total of sprinkled buildings in terri 1 tories where the connections are' used, l follow an unconditional practIce of Q i watching hose to fire department con: l nections of sprinkler systems when 1 responding to alarms of fire in | sprinklered buildings.
 l That only two cities heard from i thus far, Chicago and Milwaukee, ac- | tually have a rule concerning tne use | of sprinkler systems fire department | connections.
 l That there is a sentiment in favcr | of a rule governing the fire depart
 ment use of those connections. l That while in the Jurisdiction of | the 37 per cent, who do not use con- nections are only IT per cent of the 1 total number of springiered buildings | reported (nost of them have less than l 50 systems each) it is important that | this minority give consideration to 1 the practices of the mapoci-y who ] use these connections.
 | That while the mapority of reSponS- | es received report it is required that water shall not be shut from sprinkler l heads until it has been definitely l found out that the fire is under con | trol, IS per cent in whose territories are 16 per cent of the sprinklered i those few might well give ear to what | Chief Boughner of Grand Rapids said | We take no chances. It would cer- ! tainly be a ftal mistake to do other l wise.
 l Several cases reported in the July ! 1916 Quarterly of the National Fire | Protection Association, show that it is | a fatal mistake to do otherwise I "A fire in a woodworking plant 1 started in the ba asement and opentd 22 | sprinklers on the first story. The | public fire department laid in hose | holes cut in the floor. Thinking they l had the fire under control, the chief | of the fire department ordered water | shut off the sprinklers. A trap door 1 in the floor was then opened, which | action was followed by a rush of | through belt opening in the floor | nearby in the center of the mill The l flames worked up alongside a wooden | post. spreading up through the cracks | in the floors above to the third story | Fortunately two men had been kept at