Great Falls tribune. [volume] (Great Falls, Mont.) 1921-current, 1922-10-10

N1Snlngt0n, ID. o., Oct. IA new
type of frame building construction
which, without the use of any OF the
so-called f~ireproofing materials at all,
will cut in two the fire hazard to which
wood dwelling houses are exposed, has
been evolved by engineers employed by
the. lumber industry of America. The
announcement comes from the National
Lumber Manufacturers association of
Washington, a scientific bureau devoted
to the solution of problems affecting
the industry which maintains it.. 1
Not only will the new frame on
struction greatly add to the safety, fl
~nancial and physical, of the future
home-builders who adopt it, it is
claimed, but the discovery will have a
profound effect upon city building regu-
%iations. With some further refine
ments not deemed necessary in dwelling
houses, the new construction has been
adapted to factory and business build
ings. These plans have been approved
by the fire insurance underwriters, and
as a result some of the largest cities in
the country, New York among them,
are considering re-admitting frame con-
struction into fire districts for years
barred to wooden buildings of any sort.
The evolution of fire-resistive frame
construction was incidental to a cam
I Ddl1h AatO1 III JN&lo ~ W
the lumber industry to remove from
wood the single disadvantage, under
which it competed for business, in the
building materials market. For many
years-ever since the invention of fire
proof building construction in fact
lumber has been subjected to the at
lacks of the makers of fireproof mate
rails. Nobody could gainsay the cheap
ness of wood. nor its beauty and com
fort ~ aua,, ,fo I,,roI,I;tr c.nna MANY
of the old colonial mansions still in
existence are made of wood. But there
has been n getting around the fact
that wood will burn. If you built of
woodland three-fourths of all home
builders do use wOod-you simply
risked losing your building by fire.
Many an owner of a beautiful and ON
modious frame house has wished re
gretfully that he could afford to build
his home of fireproof materials.
In %ascribing an undue fire hazard to
frame construction, the producers of
f~ireproOfing invented no new argument.
They merely used what for years has
been ommon belief-namely, that
there is a direct relation between the
extensive use of frame construction in
the United States and the enormous
annual fire losses to which this country
is subjected. Three of every four
buildings in American cities are made
of wood throughout. The United
States has the greatest annual fire loss
of any country in the world. To as
sumo that one of these facts results
from the other seems to be only put
ting two and two together.
Science and Fire Hazards
But. like some other American in
dustries producing standard commodi-
ties which suffer from adverse popular
opinion, the hewers and sellers of wood
have been turning the cool searchlight
of science upon the alleged fire hazard
resting upon frame construction. In
this column not long ago it was shown
how successfully the scientist has re-
futed the opinion that it it dangerous
to eat canned food. Now another
group of scientists has demonstrated
beyond argument the surprising fact
that frame buildings, even as they are
constructed today, are not nearly SO
subject to fire as buildings of other
sorts, including the steel frame build
ings which are known as fireproof.
To make this demonstration. the
scientists of the Technical and Re
search Department of the National
Lumber Manufacturers association
took the 1921 figures on fires in 8
of the largest American cities as com
piled by the National Board of Fire
Underwriters. These figures, to be
sure, show that over half the fires
in those cities that year occurred IL
frame buildings. but the figure loses
it's apparent significance when it is
set down beside the fact that three
fourths of all the buildings in the s;
cities are of frame construction. IL
every thousand frame buildings there
--oc a fraction in nyppES nf III fires
but the fires in brick and stone build
ings ran over "a to the thousand ant
in all sorts of other buildings 'othel
than frame. p to the thousand.
These figures bring out a poin
which observant fire chiefs have beer
emphasizing for a long time-th,
hazard from fire results not so mucl
from the materials of which a buildin,
is constructed as from what goes Of
inside the building. A building ma.
be made entirely of steel and brick
but if it houses an automobile gar
age or a paint shop or a paper-bo'
industry, a fire may break out AM
destroy the building totally.
Fires Result From CareIessness
The lesson in this for the averag
householder is that he himself and hi
family constitute Il large part o
the fire hazard in his home. NearI.
half the fires in dwelling houses re
suit from carelessness. Faulty con
struction accounts for nearly all tn,
rest of them. Fires communicated t.
dwelling houses from outside source
are so few in number as to be negligi
BILE. Even the shingle roof. that fav
orite old scapegoat, is ~exonerated
The investigation is showing tina
when the cause of a dwelling nous,
fire is given as sparks on roof
the truth usually is that a defectiv,
chimney was the incendiary. Poo
mortar, and an insufficient q%uantit,
of that, was probably used in the frs
place. The flues in the chimney werr
unlined with tile. In time a bricI
drops out of the chimney. and tn
adjacent shingles catch fire at tn
first opportunity.
The new building plans develope,
by the National Lumber Manufactur
ers' association are designed to Gu
the frame-construction fire hazard i
two, even conceding that the hous
occupants continue their carelessness
The principal features of the new typ
of construction are designed t max
wooden buildings slow-burning. ]
~slow-burning building is about all tn
householder can hope for. wen if
he builds of fire-pr0of materials. TIL
fact is that no buildings, excepting
perhaps steel and stone jails and may