The daily Gate City and constitution-Democrat. (Keokuk, Iowa) 1916-1922, 1919-10-31
HISTORY OF BIG
CONGREGATIONS

I AASAA fNeS ~
I2.0ss of the buildings involved, only
I2.2 percent had been of hre-resistivs
/ construction. There was little wire
glass or other window perfection IL
/ the city and this condition contrib
uted largely TO the spread Of the
! flames. The San Francisco fire
proved, among other things, that the
skyscraper was not the source of fire
danger that 1t was popularity sup
posed to be. Many stored buildings
are necessarily of fre-resistiye con
struction, whereas smaner ones sell
dom are
The Deadly Wooden Single.
With timber cheap and convenient,
lit is natural that the United States
! has become a land of wooden build
ings. Ii is unfortunate, however. for
| 1t is due to the prevalence OF the
frame structure and, particularly. OF
the wooden single, tnat conaagra-
tons have been such prominent fea-
lures of our fire statistics.
In large number or serious burn
ings the shingle roof has been the
main contributory factor. This was
true at Bangor, Maine; at Jackson
vile, Florida; Yazoo City, Missis-
sippi; Chelsea, Massachusetts,; Fort
Worth, Texas; Houston, Texas; Hot
Springs, Arkansas; Salem. Massachu-
sets; Paris, Texas; Nashville, Ten
nessee; Augusta, Georgia, and at At
lanta, Georgia. Many other cities
have had similar experiences on a
smaller scale. The lesson has been
needed by number of communities
and today, according to the best
available records, ninety-one cities
have anti-shingle ordinances. The
full effect of these statutes can not
be felt at once, however, as most Of
the acts allow at least ten years in
which to replace the combusdble
wooden roof covering with fire re-
sistive material. except where extern
sive repairs are required.
The committee on fire prevention
has issued report on single roofs
as confagration spreacers, IN which
it Is said: Wooden single roofs, II
conjunction with high winds. have
devastated parts of the best resideH-
tial sections of many thriving ADe-E
can cities" In commenting upon the
Bangor fire 1t says: As the fire
burned north. the pain OF danger
grew wider, while SPARKS set t11u@-
cradle fires on shingle roofs, many
OF them a considerable distance from
the main conhagration.
OF the terrible Salem fire the re-
port states: The fire lasted thirteen
hours and covered an area Of 251
acres. Starting in the outskirts OF
the city it spread through the
shingle-roof residential district and
involved high value manufacturing
section"
In the Paris, Texas, coufagration,
of the 704 dwellings, 1872 meroan-
tiles, 522 servants houses, garages
and stables and Twenty-Five churches
and public buildings involved, 70
percent had combustible roofs and 80
percent were frame.
The national board report upon
this fire remarks:
THE confagration in Paris again
brings the incontrovertible fact TO
public attention that fire in dis
trict where shingle roofs predominant
can readily get beyond comfort, ana
when once well under way the fire.
fighting facilities at best can only
narrow the path Of the fire by flank
attacks.
"The ease with which the conrag-
ration spread throughout the brick
built mercantile district, although
only moderately exposed by the
rather thinly- built residential section,
also illustrates the vulnerabiilty of
the normal mercantile section OF the
American city; the excellent protec-
ton furnished by wired glass WIN
dows and fire doors in the few cases
where buildings Were properly
equipped with them, show in what
manner the elimination of the danger
OF spreading fires must be met"
OF the Augusta, Georgia, confiag-
ration of 1916 the report states:
THE total area involved was $50
acres. with $50 frame buildings and
III brick buildings, A fair proper
ton Of the residences, particularly
the better ones, had tin roofs, but
shingle roofs were interspersed suffi-
GENTLY to allow ignition by direct
exposure after the shingle-roofed
had caught from flying
brands" And further: Single roofs
were directly and solely responsible
iJI Lie pIOpCi tlOl5 dS5ulHSu ny the
in Nashville; even
with fifty-one-mile gale blowing as
1t was, and although burning brands
can be transported long distances in
much lighter winds, the fire, after
a clear space estimated at
more than 1900 feet, could hardly
have at once assumed such proper
tons as to be beyond control of
well-organized fire de-
partment, had not shingle roofs been
encountered"
AtIanta's Experience.
The most recent shingre roof con-
fagration of large proportions was
that which occurred at Atlanta,
Georgia. on MAY u 1917 and in.