The New York herald., 1921-12-06
Making Theatres Safe.
Automatic Sprinklers Means OF
Protection From Fire.

To THE NEW YORK HERALD: "The
motion picture theatre fire In New
haven should be a warning to every city
and town in which carelessness has per-
nitted dangerous buildings to be used
for the display of pictures. or inatten-
ton has allowed unsafe practices to be
followed" says The NEW YORK HERALD
TO be sure, this sad instance should be
I. warning, just as others have been since
the time plavhouses were rooted over
But the warnings are needed. If at all
only for time.
The Iroquois Theatre fire in Chicago
should have taught an unforgettable
lesson, but the lesson has been forgot
ten. 1t did some good, however; it suf-
feed to teach Chicago and New York
and some other cities the need OF incom-
bustible curtains over proscenium arch
openings. and, far more than this, the
vital need OF apparatus for automatic
control of fre-automatic sprinklers.
One of the things New York has rea-
son to be proud OF is the regulations
for the construction and protection OF
theatres to minimize the peril of FIRE
one of the most prominent features OF
which IS the requirement for automatic
sprinklers, particularly in the stage Sec
ton. But there Is no reason, of course
why the theatregoing public in New
oilS should be any better protected
from the peril OF ire-as it is--than the
public anywhere else in the country
yet it Is an inescapable and resrettable
fact that outside of few cities the
tJlk of the theatregoing public commits
itself night after night to the possibil-
ity of a disaster that may make the
recent New Haven case fade into pale
circumstance.
Only recently heard OF case in
which an amusement operator, doing q
considerable business. connived with the
authorities in a certain city so to modify
lively paltry amount of money would
lie saved, and this at the expense of the
safety of the theatregoing public.
Justice" asks In letter about the
New Haven fire printed IN your paper
why was this miserable f1retrap ever
permitted to be used as place OF
enusement?" To be sure, it was in an
old church, built in 184S. and of course
that was bad thing. But there is nc
reason why 1t should have been quite
90 bad. In Boston there Is an ancient
playhouse which in respect of character
of construction and arrangement is far
Fl iom being freproof. but 1t is In use
to-day and accounted to be as safe as
~ esent day theatres Of the most mod
ern character, and 1t Is so because It
IS equipped throughout with apparatus
for the automatic control of fire, and
on more than one occasion this appar-
atus has operated to control fire even
when the theatre was fully occupied and
there is no record of any disturbance in
this playhouse as n result of fire.
The principle Of automatic control of
fire has been in process OF development
for nearly half a century and has been
50 effectively and extensively applied In
the major industries of the country that
there has never been a disaster from
fire in any OF them which was protected
by automatic sprinklers.
There are upward OF 5000 theatres in
the country. but only in $50 cities are
there legal requirements for this kind OF
protection. and even these are enforced
only to a limited degree. JUST AM.
NEW YORK. December 8,