Evening star., 1943-04-08
All Unlicensed
Quarters Face
Prosecution
Priorities on Fire
Safety Devices
Under Review

Under Review =.
The extent to which the War Pro-
duction Board may grant priorities=
for fire safety facilities for OVER
crowded multiple-family housing,
here was under review today as,
Corporation Counsel Richmond b.,
Keech outlined the full force CT the
Commissioners order for prosecu-. 8,
ton of landlords who continue oper.
alton without licenses.
Mr.. Keech warned he would have =
the responsibility of prosecuting any
and all operators Of boarding, ROOM
ing, lodging and apartment houses
who continue business without a
license regardless of the reason for
which their license applications
were denied.
This would mean that if ROOM
ing house operator reduced the num-
Der OF his tenants, in order to COM
ply with fire safety rules, he still
might face prosecution if he other
wise failed to comply with health,
building, plumbing or electrical reg
ulations.
Hundreds Phone Officials.
Meanwhile, hundreds of operators
served with formal notices from
the Commissioners that they were
denied licenses for failure to meet
flre regulations were phoning Dis
trict officials to ask what they should
do. They were being told if they
could not get fire escapes or provide
other fire safety facilities, they would
have to reduce the number of ten
ants or close up until they could
comply.
1t has been estimated full en-
forcement of the law might mean
that more than 10000 persons would
have to seek new lodgings.
Col. Joseph D. Arthur. jr., Assist
ant Engineer Commissioner, said 1t
appeared rooming house operators
were in a state of CONSERVATION.
What may be done to permit land
lords to provide required fire es-
capes was to be considered at a
conference early today between Col.
Arthur and representatives of WPB.
Whether some early answer might
be expected or whether long nego-
tiations would be necessary was not
indicated at once.
Other Violations Involved.
However, it developed overnight
that lack Of fire escapes was not in
volved in all of the 1,780 cases in
which the Commissioners Monday
ordered service of formal notices
that license applications had been
denied. Fire Marshal Calvin G..
LAUDER said from his general sur
vey of the list he would say at least
majority of the cases required
fire escapes. He added that lack
of fire extinguishers were involved
in other cases.
This brought to light report that
war demands have produced a short
age of fire extinguishers and, per.
haps IN many cases in which land
lords are willing to comply. they
cannot obtani delivery of such ia
c1llties, according to Mr.. LAUDER.
Among other reasons for failure
to comply with fire regulations, Mr..
LAUDER said, were lack of fire
doors" or fire walls" between the
garage sections of Easements of
multiple-family buildings.
Commissioners Young and Mason
late yesterday asserted they were
standing pat on determination to
enforce the fire safety rules. They
maintained they must" carry out
the mandates Of Congress. Earlier.
they had recognized they had
neither the power nor funds to at
tempt to solve Washington's hous-
ing problem, but as one disastrous
fire followed another they agreed
they could no longer permit the pro-
tracted inspection routine to con-
| tinue, and decided that drastic en-
forcement action was necessary.
Saw No Alternative.
Some weeks ago they asked for
information about fire safety in
spections and report was rushed
to their desks following the Nine
teenth street rooming house disaster.
When they found nearly 1900
boarding, rooming, lodging and
apartment houses had been classed
as unsafe for one reason or another
they ordered rejection of license
applications for these places and
service of formal notices that such
places had no licenses. Fire in
spectors were directed to re-examine
such places later to see If operations
continued unchanged. Prosecution
was ordered If these landlords con-
tinued business without permits.
The hope was that fire escapes
or other safety facilities would be
provided. to avoid eviction by land
lords of thousands of tenants, among
them many war workers. However,
the city heads said they felt they
had no alternative. since they were
administrative officers and must
carry out the laws Of Congress, re-
gardless of whether their actions
caused even grave inconvenience
to many persons.
Might Estop Prosecution.
There has been suggestion that
II landlord evicted some of his
tenants, or otherwise brought his
building into compliance with fire
regulations. he could file a new ap-
plication for license which would
estop prosecution. That may hap
pen, for under the new rules a
license application will be received
although the fee no longer will
be accepted until after inspections
are made for compliance with all
regulations.
But the Corporation Counsel
finds he is under a legal obliga-
tion to prosecute any one who con-
tinues to operate without license,
regardless of whether landlord
may have met current demands as
to fire regulations, one way or an
other, but still has not obtained the
required license. Under the law,