The Waterbury Democrat., 1943-10-12

'CdII SpOkS.
 the thousands, somewhere around 100000, as we recall.
 Two persons lost their lives in explosions, which also brought about fire. On Oct. 2, 1942, there was a terrific blast at 24 State street, and the four story brick structure, housing Il apartments, was shaken from its foundation. One man was found dead here; again later or on April 2s, l943, another explosion occurred at 145 Irvington avenue, and unfortunately, the lady of the house was killed. Fire ran or seeped its way into the living room from the kitchenette, and when the front windows blew out, burning material found its way into the higrway in front.
 And talking of explosions; how many hold explosion policies on their properties; if fire follows an explosion, your insurance will cover the fire loss, but not the explosion damage. We urge all property own- CTS to make inquiry of their in- surance brokers on this question, in order that proper protection shall be afforded under any and all cir- cumstances. None of us really un- derstand the phraselogy of insurance policies of any sort, and 1t is far better to have an understanding at the beginning. rather than wait and find in the end that we are not en- titled to damages for such an oc- currence. Go down tomorrow, and find out; your insurance broker will gladly supply you with all of the information on the subject. We are insistent that you do 1t now, for the benefit you will derive at time when something out of the ordinary happens.
 COcOanut Grove
 Back years ago we were amazed when we found that fire had snuffed out the lives of 40 or 50 persons; but just look back at the Boston Night Club fire of not so long ago, when 500 persons were killed.
 That such could happen in this country, plainly illustrates the dan ger existing in buildings, construct ed and remodeled under artiquaint- ed codes; that was explanation of the Boston tragedy. Many structures have cheaply constructed stairways, light shafts, elevators and hoistways, extending from the basement to the top floor, allowing for the heated gases of combustion to rise rapidly, along with the flames, and bring ing about asphyxiation of persons in the upper floors, and the quick ignition of burnable materials. Fire travels to the top of a five story building in a matter of 2 or 3 nin- utes, and no alarm system, alone, can be assumed as assuring safety. This is true irrespective of the build ing, whether of the so-called fire type or otherwise. Life safely and unprotected vertical openings can not both exist in the same building. Even though fire escapes are pro- vided, the experience has been, au- thorities tell us, that Detah rides with the upward travel of flame and smoke. Although designed for safety exits alone can never provide safety; only this every day, we saw you lady go against the mass of people in her effort to reach the outside of the church in which she no doubt prayed for her own safety as well as the rest of us. One isn't able to push against many persons, espec- ially in a crowd as Cocoanut Grove demonstrated. Quick discovery of a fire is some factor in saving life, but it didn't do it in Boston. To aid in saving life, the quick sound- ing of Q fire alarm is of vital im- portance. Never telephone. when 1t is possible to pull a fire box. Wa terbury, for instance has a Wheeler street, in Waterville and a Wheeler avenue. in South Waterbury; we also have an Elliott avenue in the east end. and an Elliott street oil Highland avenue; we have two Fulton streets, one oA Highland avenue and one of Harper Ferry Road: we also have a Fulton Park avenue up and around Hill street. we have two Neils streets, one spelled with two CID on sylvan ayenuewny. and one with one CD ofS the MeFi- den Road.
 Telephoning fires from places like these cause much delay: headQuar~ lers must know the exact location before he dispatches his apparatus. nft lllal aa annn an 3 box ls pulled