Every evening, Wilmington daily commercial., 1920-11-27
Don't Have Fires
NY Frederic ! lIaskiu


san Frarcisco. Calf. Nov. 27, Al
though Il is hard for the visitor & imagine
N Fya1clsco more entranclng than the
~ , one. IL st~'ms TIM such phenom-
enc did once EXIST This was before the
tire Everybody Won meet here tells you
- praisr any feature of the city--its gay
restaurants its beautiful bay; It's marvel
uua Golden Gate Park: its pretty girls;
,ts ,lrlcous hsh; it's charming Presidio,
az its picturc~our Chinatown and while
tho nr,isc will I've pleasantlv welcomed, II
will immediately bc qualified with IN,
but you should have seen them or Y f
teior,s the firr'
The term earthquake rarely enters
into tho conversation when discussing the
disaster which occurred IN l"" ne
tactful VISITOR carefully avolds ", AMI 'hc
ran Frat ciscan ignores II 70 one u'V"N
that an earthquake did give me ehN
slight Jar n that mumen'ous Ncar' hu'
WAS the IRE which followed that caused
tho damage MI that the quake did was
,o knock over n few lamps and NJ The same
time hr,ak the wrtcr mans, thus ~ one
hlow causing the iirr and DESTROYING the
means with which ~ hgld Y
In a, leas, one respect, thcrriore the
new San Frarcisca which rnsf phnfh'N-
llc nom the pshc, of the old Is better
than IT, predecessor l. Is pracfTauN
,nyulnershlc apainSt tire. \o second 'S-
son was needed Everything mas
bo..n dohc that could b" done
Il. prrven' another such ch'"S
trnphc. and "A lTauclsco TODAY : one ~
h~at fire protected citlcs "a me W"'h.
,ro,hcr quakr may knock over rs many
lsmpa a. Il plcasrs. but 'hc cnN ",'' p'N''
Ill lot hPCNtlSts
as,1c from tho tact that most ni y IS now
t....l, Gro- -nrnnf an lntrlca'c system ot
,.t.r ,,on. ctioa has been established so
th.t II the water mans gre broken "r iall
=, ,ne nl,r>. or even at several places
thcrr will stll hc plenty " other sources
90 hc tapped
:. COMPLETE SYSTEM
shortly after the hre IN l9Ob. hnhd
,ssuc o( five ntilhon dollars WAS raised ior
the cnrstrlict,or Of thus Nstcm IN the mrs.
plncc. there l. = high pressure watcr supply
furnishing 80 pounds water pressure
from three storage RESERVOIRS l"ra'eu ~
,h. hills of the city one NJ an elevation
~ 2o5 foot ono Al i2O feet ard still
,,b,r a, -sO fcct In these reservoirs
tuclve million gallons Of water are stored
for hr,-huhtlng In addition there are
Able ~ pimprg 10000 gallons 81 wafer
nor minute each from the Bay hes"
stations IN strictly tirc-proot buildings
are so equipped that they could "VeIh,'
for a stretch of four DAYS. II completely
shut nf from the rest of the city h'
system also heS a connection Win l""
.,ecl fire boats IN the harbor, which can
,,Imr wrtar INTO the high-pressiirc IN
.trsrts vh,l, the supply OF fresh water
becomes exhausted
Furt hPrmure. any section ~ ne ''S
an ho cut of from the rest II u hcCoIUcS
, ccessary 10 concentrate the water supply
NJ a Mn, should hrcak IN any sccti"' TINS
auld hc immediately shut ott ~ valves
Thee valves are located ~ every street
.r,ss,rg 90 that the city can bc s"gr 'gat ri
s hlcok ~ q time
ncnted IN various sections moreover
arr one hundred cIstPruS containing any
whcrc frnu 10000 to lOa.0n0 gallons of
water each that II All the water hlauS
.ho,,ld hreaL and every other SOURCE ot
supplv become exhausted the hrc depart
msnt would still have these to tall hacN
mon Rut even this Is not all The law
rrpure- that ev--y tank IN San Francisco
holdins svr thousand gallons OF water must
h.ve : srccial connection with the city
eater .,-Stsn. IN case the hre department
sn,,id need e. use 70 lnasmuch as most
n the large office buildings have such
t.nss for supplying running water A"d
irlnklng water % the various oihces. thcN
,on,tital,c a valuable reinforcement to All
the other water resources.
No c,ty has strlcter laws on the subject
~ hre-nrotsction than Nan francisco
Fycrv building " four stories or more
m,,.t have fre-escApe Al two story
np,lSing. operated for public use must he
.upnl,.d with them and any hutdlrg
,ver on. story M which ten or more
.o,prn are EMPLOYED Is required 10 he 81
-pnrF~d Fvsry huilding IN which mi :
burned must he supplied with al sutomaf-
r. cutoff. on n II hasn one, the plant
must bs under the SUPERVISION ot a com
ps,snt pprsoh who cannot he absent more
Than twenty minutes a. time
only three types Of buildings may tie
erected Type 4 which Is strlctlN IRE
nroof tvpe n 81 reinforced concrete.
and type c. consisting Of heavy timber
~ .teel frame work and mason exterior.
In .ome sections of the city shineie roofs,
uhich are particularly frowred upon by
the fire department. arc prohlbited.
r1ar PREVENTION.
In addition 20 all these precautions. the
o,,v MAINTAINS very efficient tre Pre-
cy,ntion Bureau. which deluges the
schools with FIRE prevention literature, and
which Is now carrying on an astonishingly
cornp-ehen.ive scheme for bringing every
re.Idence and building IN San Frarclsco
under the immediate supervision Of the
Fire Deparrment Every city block Is
now daily investigated by the hremen OF
ne distrir, On the first visit, sketch
The hrst and second floors Of every
house and store and building Is made and
turned into the Fire Prevention Bureau,
which - gradually compiling huge Block
Record In other words. u diagram Of
every buildir in the city Is 70 be on ilie
N the Fue Department 30 that upon the
breaking out of fire n q certain building
on Post street for example. the + ire De
nsr,ment can turn 90 tins number IN their
=. IL l. -. -. Il