The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1920-11-27
TOPEKA STATE JOURNAL
Information Bureau
FREDERIC j. HAsKIN. Director.
Washington, ID. C.
DON'T HAVE FIRES.


lit is hard for the visitor to imagine a
4 San Francisco more enhancing than
, the present one. it seems that such
phenomenon did once exist. This was
| before the fire. Everybody you meet
here tells you SO. Praise any feature
| of the city-its gay restaurants; its
beautiful bay; its marvellous Golden
/ Gate park; its pretty girls; its delicious
fish; its charming Preside, or its pic
| turesque Chinatown-and while the
praise will be pleasantly welcomed, il
will Immediately be qualified with:
| "Ah, but YOU should have seen them
or it-before the firei'
| The term earthquake" rarely enters
| into conversation when discussing the
disaster which occurred in 1905. The
tactful visitor carefully avoids it, and
1.-THE San Franciscan ignores it. No one
denies that an earthquake did give the
city slight jar in that momentous
year, but it was the fire which fol-
I lowed that caused the damage. All
that the quake did was to knock over
a few lamps and at the same time
| break the water mains, thus at one
! blow causing the fire and destroying
! the means with which to fight it.
| In at least one respect, therefore,
the new San Francisco. which rose
! phoenix-like from the ashes of the
old, is better than it predecessor. It is
practically invulnerable against lire.
No second lesson was needed Every
| thing that could be done has been done
| to prevent another such catastrophe,
and San Francisco today is one OF the
best fire-protected cities in the world.
| Another quake may knock. over as
many lamps as it pleases, but the city
will never go up in flame as it did
before, because, aside from the tact
that most of it is now largely fire.
proof, an intricate system OF water
connection has been established so that
if the water mains are broken or ran
-oI,a of
| there will still be plenty of other
sources to be tapped.
A Complete System.
Shortly after the fire in 1905,
bond issue of five million dollars was
raised for the construction of this sys-
tenn. In the. first place, there IS
high-pressure water supply, furnish
three storage reservoirs located in the
hills of the city-one at an elevation
of 325 feet, one at 42O feet and still
another at $50 feet. In these reser-
are stored for fire-fighting. In add
toni there are two high-pressure
ing 10000 galloS of water per min
ute each from the. bay. These sta
tions, housed in strictly fire-proof
buildings, are so equipped that they
could operate for a stretch or four
days. if completely shut off from the
rest of the city. The system also has
connection with two steel fire boats
in the harbor, which can pump water,
into the high-pressure hydrants when
the supply of fresh water becomes ex-
hausted.
Furthermore, any section of the
city can be cutoff from the rest, If 1t
becomes necessary to concentrate the
water supply. If a pipe should break
in any section, this could be immedi-
ately shut off by valves. These valves
are located at every street crossing,
so that the city can be segregated
block at a time.
Located in various sections, more
over are one hundred cisterns con-
tanning anywhere from 5000 to 1907
900 gallons of water each, so that II
all the water mains should break and
every Other source of supply become
exhausted, the fire department would
still have these to fall back upon
But even this is not all. The law re-
quires that every tank in San Fran
cisco holding five thousand gallons
of water must have a special con-
nection with the city water system, in
case the fire department should need
to use it. Inasmuch as most of the
large office buildings have such tanks
for supplying running water ana
drinking water to the various offices,
they constitute a valuable reinforce
ment to all the other water resources
No city has stricter laws on the sub
ject of Interpretation than San Fran
cisco. Every building OF four stories /
or more must have a fire-escape. All
two-story buildings operated for pub
lie use must be supplied with them
and any building over one-story IN
which ten or more women are employed
is required to be SO equipped. Every
building in which oil is burned must
be supplied with an automatic cutoff, |
or if it hasn't one, the plant must De
under the supervision of a competent
person, who cannot be absent more
than twenty minutes at time,
Only three types of buildings may !
be erected: Type "A'' which is strictly
fireproof: type "B' or reinforced con- |
crete. and type "C'' consisting of
heavy timber or steel framework, and !
mason exterior. In some sections OF
the city single roefs, which are par
ticularly frowned upon by the fire de-
partment, ar prohibited
Fire Prevention. IN
In addition to all these precautions, |
the city maintains a very efficient fire |
prevention bureau, which deluges the !
schools with fire<prevention literature,
and which is now carrying on an
astonishingIy comprehensive scheme |
for bringing every residence and
building in San Francisco under the
Immediate supervision of the fire de- |
partment. Every city block is now /
daily investigated by the firemen OF
its district. On the first visit, a sketch |
of the first and second floors of every |
house and store and building is made
and turned into the fire prevention |
bureau, which is gradually compiling
a huge Block Record. In other words, !
a diagram of every building in the city
is to be on file in the fire department, |
so that upon the breaking out of
fire in certain building on Post
street, for example, the fire depart
ment can turn to this number in their
files and see exactly what kind of a |
place it is-where it's entrances and
fiues are. how many people it contains, I
what it is used for.
the cause of fire-prevention, as police
men patrol it in the cause of crime |
prevention, life and property in San
Francisco are becoming safer and |
safer. Every little detail about every !
house-the condition of its walls the 1