Norwich bulletin., 1917-08-25
Recommends Fire Department Changes
Committee of National Board of Fire Underwriters Says Motor Apparatus Should Be Provided For Hose Com pany, No. 2 and That Company Should Be Located in New Quarters Near West Main and Asyum-Advocate Increase in Number of Men at Headquarters.
ndcd in 1911.
 Fire Fighting Facilities.

Fire Fighting Facilities. | As indicated by the tests, the inn | provementS in the water supply nave not resulted in providing satisfac-
 tory fire flow for serious fires at pres | sure high enough 70 give effective | streams direct from hydrants- Approximately 5000 gallons a min ute are available at 75 pounds residual streets, but only about half this at Franklin square and less than half in the section along Shetucket street. Fire Alarm System. Since the report of 1911 practically no improvement has been made in the fire alarm system as regards boxes, headQuarters and circuit conditions Only public and private boxes have been added.
 The batteries are now charged from the trolley circuit. an unsatisfactory source because of the f1uctuation and | the ground return. ard a second
 source of supply is not now available. A breakwheel tranSmltter to transmit the alarms manually is badly needed; under the present arrangements It IS necessary to call each station sep arately over a different line for tele- 1 phone alarms. and there is no means of notifying call men and the water department of such fires. Although | little trouble has been experienced with the present antiquated type of fire alarm boxes. there is a possibility of their failing to work properly when most needed. The two public boxes installed have improved the distribu-
 ton only slightly. and many boxes should be installed as recommended in 19I1
 The fire limits are the same as in ing well maintained. is unreliable be- | cause of insecure housing, the anti quated type of boxes. and the pres
 ence of wires on poles with high ten sion circuits
 Building Department. The management and organization of the building department remain the same asein 1911. with the fire marshal l as building inspector. His time is largely taken up with other duties, but as much attention as possible is given to inspection of buildings under construction: however his endeavors along these lines are decidedly ham pered because of the very inadequate laws governing building conStru ctlon. The fire limits are the sam as in 1911: by a decision of the corporation counsel, metal clad buildings are not now permitted within these limits. Inspections of buildings and prem ises to secure the removal of accUmu- lations of rubbish and other hazards are made at least twice each year by members of the fire department, and the fire marshal makes daily inspec tions throughout the mercantile dis
 trict. Complete card records are kept of inspections.
 Fall compliance has not been made with the recommendations of 1911, and it is especially urged that a com piete code of regulations governing the storage Of explosives and inflam- mabIes be adopted in order that all hazards may be effectively controlled.
 confIasration Hazard. A B and 4-story fireproof garage, office and mercantile building of 2O, 800 square feet has replaced two frame and three joisted buildine2 on the northwest corner of Water and
 Shetucket streets which were de- stroyed by fire. At a location on the
 western edge of the district four small area two-story frame buildings have been extended and combined with an- other frame building to form a large
 area: in the northwestern portion of the district a moderate area joisted building has replaced several frames
 and a sprnklered four-story mill building of large area has been erect
 buildings. Tn the block bounded by
 Main, Franklin and Bath streets and
 Broadway. reported in the previous report as having a high conf1agration
 hazard, an addition has been made on
 the rear of the large area five story
 hotel, making an excessive area. On
 the northeast corner of the block five
 small two-story frame buildings have
 been removed and four-story rein
 forced concrete office building erected,
 covering 9,400 separate feet: however.
 this building is seriously exposed and
 has unprotected openings, and the
 hazard of the block is still marked.
 While the water supply has been i'm
 proved, the distribution system has not. and adequate quantities a direct
 hEdrant pressure are not available for large fires in any part of the prirci- pal mercantile district. The fire de- partment is still weak in men and
 without efficient engine capacity to offset the deficiency in the water sup
 ply. the fire alarm system is unreiia- ble and overhead wire Instructions are serious. These conditions, in con- junction with the narrow width of streets. occasional high winds and weak structural conditions, result in a high conf1agration hazard in the greater part of the business district.
 The Committees Recommendations
 The recommendations made by the investigators are as follows
 Water Supply: That a Finch main be laid on Water. Commerce and She
 tucket streets. from Washington street to Union and Main street. and a I2- inch on Church street from Washing
 ton street to Union street. Following
 this, mains recommended in the pre-
 vious report on Thames street Bos-
 well avenue and Mt. Pleasant street
 to be laid
 That check valves be installed on
 the supply mains from Fairview res
 ervoir and Stony Brook reservoir