Evening star., 1934-10-28
TRAINED F|REMEN
SAFEGUARD LINERS
Normandie to Have Skilled
Force-Ship Embodies
Protection Features.
Special Dispatch to The Star.

Special Dispatch to The Star.
NEW YORK, october 27.-The
1,029-foot turbo-electric liner Nor
mandie will be the most thoroughly
fireproofed passenger ship afioat
when 1t enters the French Lines New
York Plymouth -Havre service on its
completion next May, according to
Henri NORM de Linclays, the lines
resident general manager here. He
recently returned from France where
he inspected the mammoth vessel.
NORM de Linclays pointed out that
fire prevention at sea has been the
subject of intense study in France dur
ing the past few years, and that all
French passenger liners now carry a
fire prevention and fire-fighting squad,
trained by professional firemen and
led by an officer tutored by the Paris
Fire Department. The ships secur-
ity officer and his force have no other
duties than to maintain a constant
and vigilant watch into every section
OF the ship, to report every 20 min
utes to the central fire station aboard,
and to answer Immediately and with
full modern equipment any alarms
turned in by patrol or automatic de-
vice.
Walls Insulated.
In speaking Of the Normandie. he
explained that the walls Of all cabins
will be composed of sheet of dura-
lumin between layers of asbestos,
these layers covered with fireproof
paint; that in each cabin will be a
fire detector which, when the tenn
perature of the room rises to an even
slightly abnormal degree, will ring
an alarm bell in the central fire sta
tion and at the same time automati-
cally close all ventilators in the sec
ton of the ship involved, thus elimi-
mating the drafts which tend to fan
the flames.
In most Of the cabins the electric
circuit for each Is entirely independ-
ent of those for all others, and in the
ceiling there Is a hole, accessible to
firemen In an emergency. through
which hose line can be introduced
for the purpose of flooding the room.
This latter Is device invented by
Capt. Rene Pugnet, the Normandie s
commander.
Several Radio Posts.
There are several independent radio
posts, which would operate even in
the event of the central power plant
being put out of commission. Phos-
phorescent signs are placed through
out the ship, which would still be Wis
ible to point direction to decks and
lifeboats If all the ships lights were
extinguished. Sufficient lifeboats to
accommodate passengers and crew are
to be provided and the Maclachlan
type of lifeboat davits permit the
launching of the boats, independently
| of each other and on an always even
keel, by single person within two
minutes.
Gen. Paul Pouderoux, president Of
the Federation Internationale des Sa-
peurs-P -Pompiers international FEEDER
| alton of Firemen), and until recently
| the chief of the Paris Fire Depart
ment, accompanied NORM de Linclays
to America to inspect and test the
systems at sea. During the crossing
Gen. Pouderoux went to a fire alarm
box in a part Of the ship most remote
from the central fire station and
there turned in an alarm. The fire
squad had been given no previous
warning. The security officer and his
squad arrived at the point of alarm
within ! minute and As seconds.