Evening star., 1938-05-14
URGED
INCLUDING CODES
Smoke and Panic Should Be
Considered as Well as
Fire, Expert Says.

Smoke and panic as well as fire
should be taken into consideration in
framing building code requirements to
prevent hazard to life. according to
D. Knickerbacker Boyd, fellow of the
American Institute of Architects. who
IN survey of municipal building
codes has found many costly, cum
bersome and unnecessary restrictions"
Smoke and panic can be worse
destroyers Of human life than fire."
Mr. Boyd points out. provisions
against such hazards are assurances
Of safety which should be better under
stood"
Technical guidance exists which en-
abaes municipal officials responsible
for building codes to take advantage
OF . vast field of accumulated data
and to effect justifiable economies in
construction and design requirements
pertinent to the fire problem, Mr.. Boyd
asserts. The fear" psychology which
has come in waves coincident with
disastrous loss of life in buildings
should be discarded in favor of in
telligent code writing, he holds.
Stairway Provisions Hit.
1T is in many places almost i'm
possible to build modest homes of the
freproof apartment type at low cost
because of the unnecessary provisions
Tor extra StairwayS which are required
to be Of the same number as in COM
bustible types for certain story
heights" Mr.. Boyd says.
People do not necessarily have to
descend to the street level and get out
doors in case of fire if adequate pro-
vision is made for occupants of build
ings to go horizontally into other por-
tions OF non-combustible buildings or
to the roof and from one roof to an
other. Some cities, recognizing these
factors, allow apartment houses, Office
buildings and similar structures of
f1reproof construction to be built
without excessive exit requirements.
1T should be automatic that with
sound construction and adequate safety
provisions costly and space-consuming
down -and-out exits should be de-
creased in number rather than an
added penalty upon those willing to
build well. Codes should give latitude
in favor Of well-planned building as
against one merely complying with the
letter of the law
Fire Duration Value"
The duration value of a building
IN case OF fire can be computed as a
result of tests made by the American
Society for Testing Materials. the Ma
tional Bureau Of Standards, the United
States Bureau of Mines and the Ameri-
can Society Of Civil Engineers. in COL
laboration with the National Board of
Fire Underwriters and the Associated
Factory Mutuals Co.'S, Mr.. Boyd ex-
plains.
The standard fire by definition
starts as an incipient blaze and rises
in force, intensity and temperature for
a period OF one hour to 1,700 degrees F.
OF heat and continues gradually to a
temperature of 1000 degrees at the end
OF four hours, by which time it resem-
bles an inferno. The fire test has been
applied to all kinds of columns used in
building construction and to walls
and partitions. Machines of great
power simulated the load of building
afire. In other experiments power
full machines crushed every sort of
wall and floor.
"Out Of all these endeavors have
emerged tabulated results for use of all
code trainers 1t is now possible, in
properly prepared codes, through ap-
propriate selection by some one ex-
pertly familiar with the duration val
ues. to require the various component
parts OF building to be capable of
resisting the devastating effects of fire,
water and falling structural members
for definite period of time.
Values Can Be Adjusted.
THUS, certain columns, walls and
stair Enclosures may be required to
have a four-hour duration, or three
hours or two hours, while partitions,