IS FIRE INSPECTION OVERDONE?

IS FIRE INSPECTION OVERDONE?

不合格声明最近由过去employee of the Board of Education in New York City that “all the public school buildings in the city are fire traps,” and quickly refuted by the Mayor and other city officials, is now followed by the report made by a female professional investigator who says, “That the big stores in the city place thousands of people in peril.” The investigator gave evidence before the New York State Factory Investigation Committee. In it she charged that in one large department store building there were approximately 10,000 people, 4,500 on the ground floor, 2,200 on the fifth floor, where there was a display of toys, 950 persons on the third floor, 700 on the fourth and 720 on the second. Being asked how she considered the people on the ground floor in danger where there were 100,000 square feet of space and six exits, she replied, “That the crowd from above were likely to sweep down to meet an undisciplined crowd on the floor below and so on to the ground floor.” The representative of the dry goods people present stated that the report of the lady investigator was incorrect, and claimed that there was too much inference and too many conclusions drawn in the statement she made. Former Deputy Fire Commissioner Olvany, who represented the Real Estate Board, told how the Fire Prevention Bureau is making a thorough investigation of all mercantile houses, among them the large and small department stores, and he thought New York City was quite big enough to look out for itself. The lady investigator pointed out some of the peremptory measures she thought ought to be taken to reduce fires and fire panics to a minimum, such as the abolishing ot revolving doors, a better plan of cleaning the stores and removal of rubbish. She also wanted rotundas abolished, and stairways enclosed, while waste chutes should be made of metal, all of which advice is as old as “Kate Kearney's Cat.” The wonder is that busy men are obliged to give their time listening to such oft-told tales of impending calamities, while regularly paid inspectors are really investigating just such cases as the one to which we call attention. There are Fire Prevention Bureau inspectors, insurance inspectors, fire department inspectors, tenement house inspectors, State factory and building inspectors, fire marshal inspectors, city and town building inspectors and now professional fire prevention inspectors, besides fire prevention companies who claim that the other bureaus know nothing, while they have come to stop the earth from going up in smoke, but who in reality show that their knowledge and philanthropy is measured by the number of dollars received for their so-called inquisitions, but after all, is not it time wasted that is given to listen to these reports, the principal part of which will likely be found on record in hundreds of cases that have been reported upon by insurance and fire department experts who really knew what they were talking about? When the whole list of inspectors’ bureaus is carefully gone over, it will be found that there is about room for two of them to attend to fire prevention work, and these two can readily perform all that is required of them with a view to reduce the present great fire loss, with satisfactory results and at a great saving of time and waste Of money. As past Fire Commissioner Alvany pertinently remarked: “The city of New York is able to look after itself,” so it is with other municipalities that are now earnestly working to carry out ordinances to prevent fire, but who consider the work of the professional investigator a public nuisance. From the reports of these people it might be imagined that all employers of labor in factories, stores and other places are mercenary, hard-hearted scoundrels who care nothing for the lives or health of the people they employ. There may be some employers of this kind, but we think very few of them are unwilling to keep their premises in good condition and adopt any fire preventative measures that may be necessary, when ordered to do so by persons in authority. While there is at present at unnecessary rush to fight under the banner of fire prevention, there is less need of it now than there was ten or fifteen years ago, and notwithstanding all the bluster being made, it is satisfactory to note that there are still a few unscorched buildings left, and some inspectors who try to work reform, and their work is always acceptable as some good may come of it, but the majority of special investigators and fire prevention companies are likely to become more of a nuisance than anything else and ought to be looked upon with disfavor.

不合格声明最近由过去employee of the Board of Education in New York City that “all the public school buildings in the city are fire traps,” and quickly refuted by the Mayor and other city officials, is now followed by the report made by a female professional investigator who says, “That the big stores in the city place thousands of people in peril.” The investigator gave evidence before the New York State Factory Investigation Committee. In it she charged that in one large department store building there were approximately 10,000 people, 4,500 on the ground floor, 2,200 on the fifth floor, where there was a display of toys, 950 persons on the third floor, 700 on the fourth and 720 on the second. Being asked how she considered the people on the ground floor in danger where there were 100,000 square feet of space and six exits, she replied, “That the crowd from above were likely to sweep down to meet an undisciplined crowd on the floor below and so on to the ground floor.” The representative of the dry goods people present stated that the report of the lady investigator was incorrect, and claimed that there was too much inference and too many conclusions drawn in the statement she made. Former Deputy Fire Commissioner Olvany, who represented the Real Estate Board, told how the Fire Prevention Bureau is making a thorough investigation of all mercantile houses, among them the large and small department stores, and he thought New York City was quite big enough to look out for itself. The lady investigator pointed out some of the peremptory measures she thought ought to be taken to reduce fires and fire panics to a minimum, such as the abolishing ot revolving doors, a better plan of cleaning the stores and removal of rubbish. She also wanted rotundas abolished, and stairways enclosed, while waste chutes should be made of metal, all of which advice is as old as “Kate Kearney's Cat.” The wonder is that busy men are obliged to give their time listening to such oft-told tales of impending calamities, while regularly paid inspectors are really investigating just such cases as the one to which we call attention. There are Fire Prevention Bureau inspectors, insurance inspectors, fire department inspectors, tenement house inspectors, State factory and building inspectors, fire marshal inspectors, city and town building inspectors and now professional fire prevention inspectors, besides fire prevention companies who claim that the other bureaus know nothing, while they have come to stop the earth from going up in smoke, but who in reality show that their knowledge and philanthropy is measured by the number of dollars received for their so-called inquisitions, but after all, is not it time wasted that is given to listen to these reports, the principal part of which will likely be found on record in hundreds of cases that have been reported upon by insurance and fire department experts who really knew what they were talking about? When the whole list of inspectors’ bureaus is carefully gone over, it will be found that there is about room for two of them to attend to fire prevention work, and these two can readily perform all that is required of them with a view to reduce the present great fire loss, with satisfactory results and at a great saving of time and waste Of money. As past Fire Commissioner Alvany pertinently remarked: “The city of New York is able to look after itself,” so it is with other municipalities that are now earnestly working to carry out ordinances to prevent fire, but who consider the work of the professional investigator a public nuisance. From the reports of these people it might be imagined that all employers of labor in factories, stores and other places are mercenary, hard-hearted scoundrels who care nothing for the lives or health of the people they employ. There may be some employers of this kind, but we think very few of them are unwilling to keep their premises in good condition and adopt any fire preventative measures that may be necessary, when ordered to do so by persons in authority. While there is at present at unnecessary rush to fight under the banner of fire prevention, there is less need of it now than there was ten or fifteen years ago, and notwithstanding all the bluster being made, it is satisfactory to note that there are still a few unscorched buildings left, and some inspectors who try to work reform, and their work is always acceptable as some good may come of it, but the majority of special investigators and fire prevention companies are likely to become more of a nuisance than anything else and ought to be looked upon with disfavor.