Evening star., 1940-04-10
Law Approves
Fire Hazards,
Inquest Told
Inspector Forced
To Sanction Stuirs
AtWhite Court

10 SonCtIOn StOIIS
AtWhite Court
Building inspectors are forced.
under present law, to approve IRE
stairs that are open hazards, Thomas
r. Roche, District IRE escape in.
spector, today told . coroner's jury
investigating three deaths in q blaze
at 2131 o street NV. on April /.
Mr.. Roche testified that he had
inspected the four iron stairwells In
the burned building q few months
ago and found that they met all re-
quirements of the Districts Fire
Escape Act.
He found at that time 1t was not
necessary under the law for the
building to have outside first
escapes.
did you consider these STAIR
wells fire hazard under the law?"
asked Coroner A. Magruder Mac
Donald.
mo, sir" replied Mr.. Roche.
Would you allow such stairwells
In building put up in 1902"
Eyes, sir, would have to-"
I'm spite of the fact that these
open stairwells may create q down
or up, draft as apparently happened
in this fire?"
Eyes, sir"
DO you think the law should bs
changed?"
hazard"
"As well demonstrated here" re.
marked the coroner, where two Of
the victims were found burned to
death on the stairs"
Mrs. Ella Shade, the apartment
manager. followed Mr.. Roche to the
stand. She testified that IS people
were living in the building at the
time and was questioned by the cor.
oner on the structure of the place.
She said that as far as she knew
there was no plaster on any OF the
walls or ceilings and that she be.
heved the partitions between apart.
ments were built of boards of some
kind"
Engineers Testify.
The first witnesses summoned as
the second day Of the inquest began
were engineers from the District
government, who testified that blast
Ing operations on the nearby Rock
Creek sewer could have had no effect
on the o street building. Their testi.
mony was brought in to contradict
the contention that defects In the
chhnAAy might have been caused
by the blasting.
Corcner Macdonald, indicating
that some surprises were in store
during the second-day session Of
the inquest, refused to give out the
complete list Of the witnesses.
He said, however, that he wanted
to get testimony from the me.
chanics, the contractors and the
other agents" who were responsible
for the work done when the old
| stable was converted into an apart
ment house.
This work was criticized yester.
day by flremen and building inspec-
tors, who appeared at the District
Morgue to testify during the first.
day hearings.
Failed to Detect Violations.
Building Inspector John w. Och
mann said that the construction
violated number of regulations and
admitted that his Office had failed
twice in its function in neglecting
to detect the violations.
Mr.. Oehmann said that a permit
had been issued in 1925 to remodel
the building and that plans for this
remodeling were submitted to his
Office.
Were the plans submitted to your
onice followed in the remodeling?"
asked Dr. Macdonald.
mo, SIR" replied Mr.. Oehmann.
Departures From Plans.
He cited three specific departures
from the plans which he said vio-
lated fire regulations and made the
blaze so severe: :
/. Wooden doors were substituted I
for the metal-covered doors which
the contractor had said he would
use throughout the building.
2. A combustible composition wood
was used in the ceilings, instead Of
the fire-proof material agreed upon. ;
g. The builders had failed to ex-
tend the flre-resisting material used
In the wall panels all the way to the
roof.
Mr.. Oehmann said that inspectors
from his Office had visited the build
ing in years subsequent to its re-
modelling and had failed to discover
these violations. e
Testimony on Chimney.
DR.. Macdonald called his atten.
ton to testimony concerning the
chimney which ran up the center Of
the three-story building and asked
If permit had been granted to re-
model the chimney at any time.
Mr. Oehmann said that q permit
for this work had been granted in
August, 1887, and that apparently
the work had been done.
6uI LQere was no Inspection altef
construction began. The inspector
in that territory says that he was
not notified that permit had been
issued and therefore didn't know
the work was being DONE"
s"You have no way Of checking up
on your inspectors to see If they
have completed inspections2" asked
the coroner. X
That's right"
"But It's the province Of your Of
11ce to inspect this work."
Eyes, SIR"
Juror Asks Question.
A member Of the coroner's Jury
asked: -
did your ONCE fall down In this
cnse9S