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REAL* ESTATE AND NEW YORK, JUNE 6, 1914 llilllllllll
illH|itl|lll«ll!aiil!IIIII'1llllll!ll!IB^ ......... Ifire prevention as a municipal function Total Loss By Conflagration Throughout Country Aggregates .About $600,000 Daily—Per Capita Loss Five Times That Of Any Country In Europe. By JOSEPH O. HAMMITT, Chief Fire Prevention Bureau IIIIIIIII llllillilllilllillllllllliiii P IRE prevention as a municipal func- ■'• tion is somewhat difficult to deal with, because municipalities so far have done very little functioning along that line. Municipal fire prevention is com¬ paratively new. Though the fire waste in this country amounts in actual cash, according to a Government estimate, to about $600,000 a day, or $25,000 an hour, and has been such for many years, we have given little thought as yet to scien¬ tific measures for reducing this enor¬ mous waste. The per capita fire loss in this country is five times as great as that of any country of Europe. I gave the figure of $600,000 a day, which is $416 a minute, as the actual cash cost of our fires in this country. But that is only the minor portion of the loss. To arrive at a fair estimate of what fires cost us we must include the upkeep of fire departments, part of the upkeep of water departments, and so much of the fire insurance premiums as are not paid out in indemnities. This brings the cost of fires up to not less than $500,000,000 a year, which is $125,000,000 more than the total cost of the Panama Canal. Gigantic Fire Loss. Now, even the $500,000,000 does not include the total loss, for to this must be added the economic loss—loss of business, loss of employment, disturb¬ ance of industry and of financial condi¬ tions; and to all this, one more factor, which is, from the humanitarian view¬ point, the I'nost important, must be added—the loss of human life, which averages in this country about 2,000 persons a year, and the injuries which deprive the sufferers of the capacity to enjoy life or to make their lives fruit¬ ful. The number of persons incapaci¬ tated at fires in this country each year is about 6,000. Should we count in all our losses, using the actuary's figures of $5,000 as the economic value of a life, the figures would well run into billions instead of hundreds of millions. The Federal Government in 1907 con¬ ducted an investigation into the causes of fires. The results of this inquiry ought to have awakened the country. The figures put the total cash cost of fires for that year, excluding that of forest fires and marine losses, but in¬ cluding excess cost of fire protection due to bad construction, and excess premiums over insurance paid, at $456,- 485,000. A Government report shows that the tax of this fire loss on the people exceeds the total value of the gold, silver, copper and petroleum pro¬ duced in the United States in that year. This report shows that nearly one-half the value of all the new buildings con¬ structed in one year throughout the country is destroyed by fire. Movement Started in 1835. As far back as 1835. Zachariah Allen inaugurated in New England the first fire-prevention movement in this country by introducing into his cotton factories what is known today as "mill construc- tioii-.." Allen became the moving spirit •Protf> an address delivered at Auburn, N. Y., June 4. JOSEPH O. HAMMITT. in the factory mutual systeni of fire insurance. He devoted much attention to the subject of building construction and found that by increasing the thick¬ ness of his floors and of the beams in his buildings, by building fire walls in the different parts of these structures, by closing vertical openings through the floor, by keeping these floors clean frorn oily -waste and clippings, by even pay¬ ing attention to the condition of the watchman's lanterns, and, generally, by instituting carefulness and good house¬ keeping where carelessness and sloven¬ liness had prevailed, he was able to reduce the number of fires to a great extent. Creation of Bureau. The first serious attempt to develop fire prevention as a municipal function in this State was the enactment in 1911 of an amendment of the Greater New York Charter creating in the Fire De¬ partment a Bureau of Fire Prevention. Through this bureau the Fire Commis¬ sioner enforces laws and ordinances and regulations of the Fire Department it¬ self for the prevention of fires, and also as to making buildings safe for their occupants in case of fire by means of adequate exit facilities. The principal aim of fire prevention as a municipal function is the protection of human life. The protection of property against de¬ struction is a secondary, though very important, feature. "The putjlic demand which called forth the enactment of the New York City fire-prevention law was awakened by the tragedy of the Triangle waist fac¬ tory fire in which 145 factory workers met death. Two lines of attack are open to the municipality which makes war upon its fire waste, having in view the protection of human life as the principal object and the preservation of property as a secondary, but very important, consider¬ ation. One of these methods of attack is fire prevention in its narrowest sense, and the other is fire prevention in its broader sense and consists of requiring in every building (such as a hotel, a factory, an office building, a lodging house, or a place of public amusement) adequate and accessible exits through which all the occupants can pass in a short period of time to a place of safety in case of fire or panic. Orders Complied With. Both these lines of attack are availed of by the Fire Department of New York City, acting under its fire-prevention law. The character of results obtained is indicated by a statement of important requirements of the Bureau of Fire Pre¬ vention complied with during the first three months of 1914. The following statement gives a record not of the or¬ ders issued bv the Fire Department for safety, but of the orders actually com¬ plied with during the first three months of the present year. It is as follows: (1) Sprinkler systems installed..... 20 IL') Additional exits, stairways and fire-escapes ................. 61 (3) Repairs and extensions of exist¬ ing stairways, fire-escapes and exits, removal of obstructions at exits and keeping doors un¬ locked ....................... 231 (4) Miscellaneous structural alter¬ ations, fireproofing and pro¬ tection, fireproof windows, shut¬ ters, skylights, etc............1,381 (5) Repairs ot electrical equipment.. 475 (6) Removal ot dangerous conditions in heating and power plants.. 299 (7) Miscellaneous fire appliance and fireproof receptacles (such as water buckets, hand fire ex¬ tinguishers, etc.). The figure represents not the number of appliances but the number ot orders to install equipments. .2,583 (.S) Installations ot interior fire alarm systems ..................... ■ 6 (0) Installation of fire drills (tested and approved by the B'ureau of Fire Prevention) ............ 46 ( 1<>I Hazardous occupancies discon¬ tinued, hazardous stock re¬ moved, etc................... 170 (11) Quantities of combustibles on storage reduced .............. 49 (12) Approved storage systems tor com¬ bustibles installed ............ 9 These figures do not include the work in theatres. One of the heaviest re¬ sponsibilities of the Fire Department is to protect the theatregoing public, in¬ cluding the tens of thousands of patrons of moving-picture shows. In New York City we have fairly adequate or¬ dinances setting forth the requirements necessary for the safety of theatre and moving-picture patrons from fire and panic dangers. Enforcing Ordinances. This year we discovered in the City of New York how to enforce these or¬ dinances. We notified the theatre man¬ agers that their licenses would not be renewed unless they complied with all the requirements. Theatre licenses ex¬ pired on the first of May, and I imagine that in the six weeks immediately pre¬ ceding that date there was more work done in existing theatres in order to render them safe in case of fire or fire panic than during any equal number of months in the previous history of the Fire Department. The sudden solicitude for the welfare of the public displayed
