INADEQUATE FIRE PROTECTION.

INADEQUATE FIRE PROTECTION.

Two recent fires, one of them bringing home the lesson by a serious loss of life, have again emphasized the necessity of better fire protection in public institutions. In one instance last week Captain J. W. Smith, of Engine Company No. 1, ’phoned headquarters that Dr. Amos J. Given’s Sanatorium, Stamford, Conn., was on fire. When Chief H. W. Parker and twelve firemen arrived on the scene they found the laundry, a two-story wooden structure, a mass of flames and that the roof had fallen in. Furthermore, the institution being outside the city limits, there was no available water supply to fight the flames. The building, which was five years old, stood 500 feet from the roadway and 2 1/2 miles from the nearest fire station. An attempt was made to get a stream on the fire, but it had to be abandoned on account of lack of water, and there was nothing to do but let the building burn and protect the structures in the vicinity as best they might. Fortunately the nearest of these was 100 feet away, with no wind to carry sparks. The fact of there being no water supply in a large institution .of this kind was a serious matter, as if there had been a high wind at the time nothing could have saved the other buildings of the sanatorium. This report shows what chances proprietors of such places as this sanatorium take in not providing adequate fire protection. An elevated tank always kept full of water would be a valuable aid in extinguishing fire and a portable chemical engine is absolutely necessary to stop an incipient blaze. This building was outside the city limits, consequently the ordinance providing for fire prevention methods did not reach it, and there may be many structures of a similar kind scattered all over the country which ought to be protected before a serious outbreak of fire occurs. The second case that emphasizes the necessity of proper fire protection in institutions, though this time dealing with men of poverty and the outcasts of society, was the fatal fire which took place in Paterson, N. J., on Sunday, November 4, an illustrated account of which appears in our reading columns. It was the same old story of inadequate provision for fire protection the careless accumulation of inflammable'rubbish in an exposed position, and the reliance upon a single fire escape, a very uncertain and hazardous means of exit from a burning building at best. As it was the action of the fire was so rapid that there was no time for the unfortunates to descend to safety by either stairs or fire escapes, especially as the majority were freshly awakened and dazed by sleep. Many were compelled to leap for safety into the nets spread by the firemen. Some of the deaths were caused by overleaping the nets in the excitement of the moment or being pushed over by other frantic men behind them. It is only another of the many unheeded lessons brought home with such terrible cost, of poor and negative fire protection in inflammable buildings.

Two recent fires, one of them bringing home the lesson by a serious loss of life, have again emphasized the necessity of better fire protection in public institutions. In one instance last week Captain J. W. Smith, of Engine Company No. 1, ’phoned headquarters that Dr. Amos J. Given’s Sanatorium, Stamford, Conn., was on fire. When Chief H. W. Parker and twelve firemen arrived on the scene they found the laundry, a two-story wooden structure, a mass of flames and that the roof had fallen in. Furthermore, the institution being outside the city limits, there was no available water supply to fight the flames. The building, which was five years old, stood 500 feet from the roadway and 2 1/2 miles from the nearest fire station. An attempt was made to get a stream on the fire, but it had to be abandoned on account of lack of water, and there was nothing to do but let the building burn and protect the structures in the vicinity as best they might. Fortunately the nearest of these was 100 feet away, with no wind to carry sparks. The fact of there being no water supply in a large institution .of this kind was a serious matter, as if there had been a high wind at the time nothing could have saved the other buildings of the sanatorium. This report shows what chances proprietors of such places as this sanatorium take in not providing adequate fire protection. An elevated tank always kept full of water would be a valuable aid in extinguishing fire and a portable chemical engine is absolutely necessary to stop an incipient blaze. This building was outside the city limits, consequently the ordinance providing for fire prevention methods did not reach it, and there may be many structures of a similar kind scattered all over the country which ought to be protected before a serious outbreak of fire occurs. The second case that emphasizes the necessity of proper fire protection in institutions, though this time dealing with men of poverty and the outcasts of society, was the fatal fire which took place in Paterson, N. J., on Sunday, November 4, an illustrated account of which appears in our reading columns. It was the same old story of inadequate provision for fire protection the careless accumulation of inflammable'rubbish in an exposed position, and the reliance upon a single fire escape, a very uncertain and hazardous means of exit from a burning building at best. As it was the action of the fire was so rapid that there was no time for the unfortunates to descend to safety by either stairs or fire escapes, especially as the majority were freshly awakened and dazed by sleep. Many were compelled to leap for safety into the nets spread by the firemen. Some of the deaths were caused by overleaping the nets in the excitement of the moment or being pushed over by other frantic men behind them. It is only another of the many unheeded lessons brought home with such terrible cost, of poor and negative fire protection in inflammable buildings.