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Fire Chronicle in the U.S.A

Fire prevention bureaus were started in 1900 in a number of large cities. Long Beach, California established such a bureau in 1917, while Phoenix, Arizona, started theirs in 1935. At that time Phoenix had a population of 46.500.

1. Public Assembly

a) On December 5, 1876, a major fire occurred in Brooklyn Theatre in New-York. In this fire a stage was ignited, and 295 people were killed. The Iroquois was Chicago's newest theatre. 2000 people were present at that performance. Arc lamps were used in the theatre. A curtain was set on fire, and flames and smoke rapidly made the structure untenable. No fire extinguishers were provided. The curtains were combustible, and exits were improperly marked. No venting was provided for the stage area; so there was no means of removing immediately hot gases and smoke. The tragic fire took 603 lives and gave a great deal of impetus to the fire prevention movement.

b) In Natchez, Mississippi, a fire in a small dance hall, the Rhythm Club, took 207 lives and caused injuries to 200 people in 1940. Combustible decorations and one exit with the door opening inward were the responsible factors.

c) During the early days of World War II, a major fire struck the Cocoanut Grove nightclub in Boston, Massachusetts. On the night of the fire, November 28 1942, the club had approximately 1.000 occupants, many of them were people preparing to go overseas on military duty. A lighted match used by an employee in changing a light bulb has been considered the possible cause for this tragic fire, which took 492 lives.

Almost half of the occupants were killed, and many were seriously injured. Flammable decorations spread the fire rapidly. Authorities estimated that possibly 300 of those killed could have been saved had the doors opened outward. It should be noted that the capacity of the structure had also been exceeded.

2. Industrial Facilities. A tragic fire occurred in the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory in New York City on March 25, 1911. More that 600 women, most of them young, were working on the eighth, ninth, and tenth floors of this loft building. To prevent unauthorized removal of products, the factory management made a practice of checking purses and bags of all employees when they left the premises. During this procedure the exit doors to the stairs were locked.

The fire started from an unknown cause on the eighth floor at approximately 4.45 p.m. Interior standpipe hose was rotten and completely ineffective. The fire spread out of the windows and onto the floors above. Sixty people jumped to the ground from the eighth, ninth, and tenth floors. In this disaster 146 people were killed. In addition, 70 people were injured. The owner of the factory and his family, who happened to be in the building, escaped by going up through the floor above. Charges were brought against the owner. However, he was acquitted because he apparently proved that he did not know about the practice of locking the stairway exit doors.

The fire focused attention on the need for fire safety measures and the safeguarding of occupants in similar buildings. The nation was shaken by this incident, which led to regulations to preclude the possibility of a recurrence.

3. Hotels

a) Nationwide interest in hotel life safety was awakened by the fire that swept the Winecoff Hotel in Atlanta, Georgia, on December 7,1946. This building was widely advertised as a "fireproof" structure and was, in fact, of fire- resistive construction. An open stairway, however, permitted the rapid spread of smoke and heat up the stairs from the floor to floor. There were 304 guests in this 15-storey building at the night of the fire, 119 people were killed, 168 injured. A number of occupants jumped from windows.

b) During the same year a fire at the La Salle Hotel in Chicago took 62 lives, and. 19 lives were lost in the Canfield Hotel, Dubuque, Iowa.

4. Nursing Homes and Hospitals

a) A number of serious fires have occurred in nursing homes throughout the country. One that focused special attention from the point of view of fire protection and prevention was the Katie Jane Nursing Home fire in Warrenton, Missouri, in 1957. The fire occurred on a Sunday afternoon, when many visitors were at home, and took 72 lives. Construction deficiencies, the lack of automatic sprinkler system, and a number of other factors were paramount in this disaster. However, this fire and one that took 63 lives in a Titchville, Ohio, home in 1963 did result in the improvement of nursing- home fire safety regulations and procedures in a number of jurisdictions.

b) A fire that occurred in 1961 in the Hartford Hospital, Connecticut, was responsible for 16 deaths. The Structure was a modern fire- resistive building, but combustible ceiling tile contributed to the fire's spread.

5. Schools

a) A six year old, three- storey school in Colinwood, Ohio, was the scene of tragedy in 1908. The Lakeview school was occupied by over 300 students at the time of a fire. Of those students, 175 were killed. Open stairways and construction materials contributed to the fire spread.

b) The fire occurred in a two- room elementary school at Bables Switch, Oklahoma, on December 24, 1924. The school was being used for a Christmas event attended by over 200 community residents. A Christmas tree had been placed in the opening between the two rooms. The windows in the school had previously been barred, and there was but one exit. As a result of these unsafe conditions, 36 deaths followed in this fire, which was started by a toppled candle in a tree.

c) In March 1937 a major explosion struck the New London school, Texas. This disaster, which killed 297 people, was caused by improper gas installation.

School fire safety is considered to be of paramount concern in communities throughout the U.S.A.

6. Prisons

a) The Ohio State Penitentiary fire of April 21, 1930, aroused interest in problems relating to fire prevention in prisons. The penitentiary had 4.300 inmates at that time, and 320 were killed in the fire. Most of those killed were trapped in their cells. The fire brought about immediate demands for improvements in fire safety in penal institutions.

b) Three major fires killed a total of 68 people during 1977. Included were five fatalities in the federal prison in Danbury, Connecticut, 42 in the country jail in Maury Country, Tennessee, and 21 in a St. John, New Brunswick, penal institution. Interior finish had become a major contributory factor to fires in such places.

7. Conflagration,

a) Major conflagrations occurring in U.S. cities have also brought reforms in building and fire prevention codes. In 1904, Baltimore was swept by a conflagration that destroyed 80 blocks in the downtown business centre. This fire resulted in the improvement of construction standards and the development of new procedures in fire prevention. Other North American cities and towns have had somewhat similar occurrences. For example, in 1861 a fire destroyed most of the town of Lindsay, Ontario. Four hotels, two mills, the post office, custom- house office, and 83 other buildings were destroyed in the town.

b) In 1923, Berkley, California, was ravaged by a fire that destroyed 640 structures. As recently as 1961, a conflagration in Los Angeles spread through wooded lands and resulted in destruction of over 500 dwellings. Some large communities permit the use of wood- shingle roofing. The Los Angeles fire emphasized the need to return to more restrictive code provisions, regarding wood- shingle roofing.

8. Earthquakes and Fire,

The 1906 earthquake and fire in San Francisco must be mentioned in any recount of fires of major significance. The severity of the fires was much greater because of the earthquake. Water mains were broken, which greatly reduced the amount of water available for fire- fighting purposes. In addition, the earthquake made response by fire- fighting equipment most difficult. A number of fires went uncontrolled. In this disaster, 422 lives were lost, 28000 buildings were destroyed, and property loss was estimated at 350 million dollars. This devastating event promoted reconsideration of fire prevention procedures in all areas of the country in which earthquakes might be anticipated.

UNIT 9

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