Grand Forks herald. [volume] (Grand Forks, N.D.) 1916-1955, 1922-10-10

on inside the building. A. building
may be made entirely of steel and
brick, but If it houses an automobile
garage or a paint shop or a paper-box
factory OF n other fi~re-hazardous
industry, a fire may break out and
destroy the building totally.
Fires Result From Carelcssncss.
The lesson in this for the average
householder is that he himself and
his family constitute a large part of
the fire hazard in his home. Nearly
half the fires in dwelling houses re-
suit from! carelessness. Faulty con-
struction accounts for nearly all the
rest of them. Fires communicated to
dwelling houses from outside sources
are so few in number as to be negl,gi-
Bile. Even the single roof, that fav-
orlte scapegoat, Is exonerated. The
Investigation is showing that when the
cause of a dwelling house fire is CIV
en- as sparks on roof" the truth us
ually is that q defective chimney was
the ircendiafy. Poor mortar, and an
insufficient quantity Of that, was
probably used in the first place. The
flues in the chimney, and the adja-
cent shingles catch fire at the first
opportunity.
The new building plans developed
by the National Lumber Manufactur-
ers' association r designed to cut
the characterization fire hazard, in
two, even conceding that the house
occupants continue their carelessness.
The principal features Of the new type
Of construction are designed to make
wooden buildings slow-burning. A
fslow-burning building is about all the
householder can hope for, even if he
builds of fire-proof materials. The
fact ia that m hYi11i~oo 1xoo~%i-~
perhaps steel and stone jails and may
he the pyramids of Cheops, are abso-
lutely fire-proof. The disastrous
Loop" fire in Chicago last year ate
up a 16-story steel building, and there
have been other instances of suppos-
eddy absolutely fire-proof buildings
being totally destroyed by fife.
From the standpoint of fire, the
chief defect in frame construction of
the past has been that it left between
walls and between the ceiling Of one
room and the floor of the room above
drafty open spaces which serve as
flues when the house catches on fire.
A fire originating in the lower part
OF the house can roar through these
lspaces, If it gains Roadway before dis
covery, and often by the time the
firemen arrive the building is ablaze
In a dozen places from cellar to roof.
The new construction stops these
impromptu flues by the simple and
cheap eXpedient of blocking them at
intervals with wooden barriers. This
cuts off drafts and thus prevents rap
i'd spreading, forcing the fire to con-
sumo its own way as it goes. Such a
fire could remain undiscovered a con-
siderable time and still be localized
Ito one part of the house.
But the model fire-resistive plans
do much more than this. They pro
vide for solidly framed room corners,
flue Innings for chimneys, all wood
kept 20 inches away from fireplaces.
no wood within two inches of Chin
lneys (the spaces being filled with
loose incombustible materially, TOP Of
the furnace Is inches away from the
cellar ceiling and the ceiling itself
protected from the heats below, heat
pipes kept an inch aaway from the
woodwork and sheathed with incom-
bustible materials where they 4pass
through floors, and numerous other
precautions.
These specifications have been
brought to the attention Of architects
and builders generally by trade and
technical publications, and ANY pros
pective house builder can now have
the Use OF them. BY adopting this
tyne Of construction, and with atten-
ltion to the safety tof the electric wir-
ing, any home-builder can take q d
vantage sof the cheapness OF lumber
and still get q house that in fire re-
sistance will compare favorably with
slow burning dwellings of twice the
cost.
Answers 10 QUESTIONS.