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Early Fire Prevention Measures in America

Massachusetts Governor Winthrop, as a result of a serious fire in Boston, issued an order in 1631 prohibiting the building of chimneys of wood and the covering of houses with thatch.

Fire inspections in the New World probably began with the appointment by Governor Peter Stuyvesant in 1648 of four fire wardens to inspect wooden chimneys of thatched roof houses in New Amsterdam (New York City). These individuals were empowered to impose fines for improperly swept chimneys.

Salem, Massachusetts, in 1644 imposed a fire safety ordinance requiring inhabitants to procure ladders for their houses. This was followed by a 1663 ordinance requiring chimneys be swept each year.

Chimneys were a major fire problem in Colonial America. Philadelphia found it necessary in 1696 to prohibit the cleaning of chimneys by burning them out. Citizens were not allowed to smoke on the street by day or night and the possession of more than six pounds of gunpowder within "forty paces of any building or dwelling" was prohibited."

Norfolk, Virginia, prohibited wooden chimneys in 1731. Easton, Maryland, in a 1791 ordinance, required chimneys to be built of brick or stone. In 1796, New Orleans, then a Spanish province, passed an ordinance against the use of wood roofs.

Rhode Island's first fire prevention law was enacted in 1704. It banned the setting of fire "in the woods in any part of this colony on any time of the year, save between the tenth of March and the tenth of May annually nor on the first or seventh day of any week. A subsequent measure enacted in 1731 prohibited unauthorized bonfires.

Fire prevention enforcement measures were initiated in many communities during the early days of the country. As an example, in 1785 a city ordinance in Reading, Pennsylvania, imposed a fine of 15 shillings for each chimney fire that occurred in the city. The fine was collected by the city and turned over to the fire company that had responded to the alarm. This ordinance was later repealed. Another Reading requirement was the alteration of chimneys in blacksmiths' shops to make them fire resistive, with a fine of $20 for violation.

An 1807 ordinance in Reading prohibited the smoking of cigars in the street after sunset. It also prohibited people from sitting on porches or in the doorway of any house with a lighted cigar or pipe without the consent of the owner. A $1 fine was imposed for violations of this ordinance. Under the Reading ordinance, the use of firecrackers was prohibited, with a fine of $l or 12 hours in jail for violators. A duty was imposed on the citizens of Reading to confiscate and destroy fireworks found in the possession of a child.

The board of aldermen in Pensacola, Florida, passed an ordinance in 1821 requiring chimneys to be kept swept. A $10 fine was levied against the owner of any house whose roof caught fire.

Jamestown, New York, imposed fire prevention regulations in 1827. Fire wardens were required to examine all chimneys, stoves, and other fire places used within Jamestown to direct "such reasonable repairs, cleansings, removals or alterations as shall be in his or their opinion best calculated to guard against injury by fire." Fines were imposed for failure to comply or for refusal of entry to the warden.

Occupants of shops or other places in Jamestown where rubbish might accumulate were required to remove accumulations as often as the warden saw fit. Fines were imposed for each day the violation continued.

In most newly formed towns, fire suppression forces were organized before the advent of fire prevention efforts. However, in Auraria, the original section of what is now Denver, Colorado, the legislative council in 1860 appointed six fire wardens "to inspect buildings and their chimneys and to prevent the accumulation of rubbish" as a result of burning of a large livery barn. The first fire fighting company was formed in 1866.

More comprehensive fire prevention regulations were imposed in New York City in 1860 subsequent to a tenement building fire in which 20 people were killed. This ordinance required all residential buildings built for more than eight families to be equipped with fire-proof stairs or fire escapes.

Several major fires occurred in the early 1800s in Montpelier, Vermont. As a result of these fires, "the village appointed a committee of three to report a code of by-laws for the preservation of buildings from fire. The bailiffs were required to inspect every house in their ward to see that there was no fire hazard and that each place had, as required by by-laws, a fire bucket and ladder. Another by-law required that no fire should be left burning in a house unoccupied between the hours of 11:00 p.m. and 4:00 a.m., if adjacent to another.

Fire escapes and exits attracted the attention of the Boise, Idaho, city council in 1887, when they imposed a requirement that doors in halls in theaters be made to swing outward. They were concerned about the possibility of a disaster in one of the city's places of assembly. Today, doors must swing out if the occupancy of the building is more than 50.

The development of fire safety regulations in Toronto was described in the history of that city's fire department as follows:

When man realized he could gain more living space on the same sized lot by adding floors on top of each other, city council paid more attention to the types of construction, the principal consideration being to guard against fire. Regulations were comprehensive and strict. A code in 1890 indicated that buildings were not to be erected in streets less than 35 feet wide or without a vacant space of at least 300 square feet. Furnaces, stoves and chimneys had to meet certain standards. Ladders had to remain in place in the same manner as indicated by the law in 1820. Inflammable liquids and gunpowder were restricted. Churches, hospitals, colleges, schools, halls and theatres must have stairs and doors as required by the director of buildings. No seats were to be put in the aisles. Theatres had to have fire hoses plugged in. The city was divided into four fire limits, the first being approximately bounded by Jarvis, Queen and Simcoe Street and the Esplanade. That limit was to have maximum protection including fireproof walls and roofs.

Captains of steam fire engine companies in Memphis, Tennessee, as early as 1900 performed inspections to locate and correct rubbish conditions in buildings, dangerous stove pipes, obstructed fire escapes, and defective chimneys and flues. There were great amounts of cotton stored on vacant lots and in streets, which further contributed to the fire problem.

Formal fire prevention measures in Tulsa, Oklahoma, apparently began with a 1906 requirement that owners of all buildings with three or more stories install fire escapes. Failure to comply by a set date resulted in a fine of $15 per day. Store owners were prohibited from using rubber tubing for gas connections. Failure to comply resulted in steel piping being installed at the expense of the owner.

Fire chiefs in the United States have long had an interest in fire prevention. The first general topic discussed at the First Annual Conference of the National Association of Fire Engineers (predecessor to the International Association of Fire Chiefs) was fire prevention. The following fire prevention items were discussed at the conference, which was held in Baltimore in 1873:

I. The limitation or disuse of combustible material in the structure of buildings; the reduction of excessive height in buildings, and the restriction of the dangers of elevator passages, hatchways, and mansards.

II. The isolation of each apartment in a building from other apartments, and of every building from those adjoining by high party-walls.

III. The safe construction of heating apparatus.

IV. The presence of trustworthy watchmen in warehouses, factories, and theaters. Especially during the night.

V. The regulation of the storage of inflammable material, and the use of the same for heating or illumination; also exclusion of rubbish liable to spontaneous ignition.

VI. The most available measures for the repression of incendiarism.

VII. A system of minute and impartial inspection after the occurrence of every fire, and rigid inquiry into the causes, with reference to their future avoidance.

VIII. Fire escapes actually serviceable for invalids, women, and children.

The use of fire suppression personnel for prefire planning inspections was discussed by the Salt Lake City fire chief at the 1901 conference. At their conference in 1902, fire chiefs discussed developments in fire-retardant paint and slow-burning wood.

In Milwaukee, fire prevention requirements were first imposed for places of public assembly in 1888. Violations of these regulations carried fines of $5 to $100. Apparently these were the only regulations of a fire prevention nature in effect in the community at that time. By 1913, Milwaukee had a force of 30 men devoted entirely to fire prevention duties. There were 90,000 buildings in the city at that time. The personnel assigned to fire prevention duties were paid entirely through the returns from an insurance premium tax. By 1919, over 250,000 inspections were being conducted each year by the fire prevention bureau.

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