FIRE 2 – Fire Prevention Technology
Lesson 1 – The Basis for Fire Prevention
The United States historically has had one of the highest fire loss rates of the industrialized world – both in terms of deaths and dollar loss. This unenviable status has perplexed many experts in the fire world. The United States is health and safety conscious in many areas – automobiles, consumer products, food, and medical drugs, to name a few – and has a vast arsenal of technological resources to combat fire. For such a safety conscious and technologically advanced society to be a leader in fire loss is indeed puzzling. The primary goals of the fire service are safety of life and the protection of property. Property protection is not a crass motive based on greed. The public health and livelihood are very much tied to the preservation of jobs and a healthy and robust economy.
A. The Call for Fire Prevention—When and Why
1. Reaction followed by inaction
a. laws passed in the aftermath of major fires
b. political will to enforce laws wanes with time
c. fire usually happens to someone else
2. Insurance industry impact
a. political process generally ineffective
b. development of regulations
B. The Fire Problem
1. The fire record of the United States
a. historically, the worst in the western world
b. two million fire calls a year
2. Indirect costs
a. loss of purchasing power impacts economy
b. business interruption
c. medical and housing costs
d. psychological damage
3. Losses from all natural disasters in the United States is a fraction of the losses from fire.
4. The United States has always led all major industrialized countries in per capita deaths and property loss.
5. Fire problems exist due to failure to adequately apply and fund loss reduction strategies.
C. The History of Fire and Fire Prevention
1. Fire in the early days
a. fire used for heat and light around 500,000 B.C.
b. fire later created through friction
1) allows for firing of pottery
2) copper and tin smelted
3) iron made
2. Hostile fires had little impact in 500,000 B.C.
3. Progress meant harnessing fire
D. Technological Progress in Making Fire
1. Matches
a. heat activated in the Roman empire
b. self-igniting available in early 1800s
2. Rockets
a. invented in 1805 by Sir William Congreve
b. during the War of 1812, Congreve’s rockets "red glare" inspires lines of our national anthem
3. Unharnessed fire
a. can now destroy cities and towns
b. can now be used as a weapon
E. Fire Prevention in the Early Days
1. Rome 300 B.C.
a. slaves used for night-watch and firefighting
b. 24 b.c. first municipal fire department, the Corps of Vigiles
2. A.D. 1000
a. 1066 William the Conqueror decrees that fires be extinguished and covered at night
b. a couvre feu or fire cover used, over time has become the word"curfew"
3. A.D. 1500
a. 1500s English ordinances regulating bakers and candle makers
b. laws prohibit and regulate wooden chimneys and thatched roofs
c. laws mandate brick or stone walls between buildings
4. A.D. 1666 – The great fire of London
a. burns for 5 days and nights
b. destroys 13,200 homes, 87 churches, St. Paul’s Cathedral, 20 warehouses, and 100,000 boats
c. London Building Act enacted in 1668
d. 108 years later, commissioners appointed to enforce the act
e. Dr. Nicholas Barbon forms a group for the insurance of buildings
f. Barbon’s group becomes the London Fire Office
g. later, fire brigades formed to extinguish fires on insured properties
F. Fire in American History
1. In 1608, while Captain John Smith held captive by Indians
a. accidental fire at Jamestown settlement
b. most of the buildings and provisions destroyed
2. Boston ravaged by nine serious fires prior to the American Revolution
a. Boston general court ordered all buildings constructed of brick or stone with slate or tile roofs
b. this law never enforced
3. Chicago fire of 1871
a. destroys 17,500 buildings
b. kills over 300 people
c. over 100,000 left homeless
d. Joseph Medill runs as the "Fireproof Party" candidate for Mayor
e. three years later, fire safety conditions in Chicago worse than before the fire
f. the insurance industry strong-arms Chicago’s officials into improving the fire department and fire safety conditions by threatening to cancel all insurance coverage
G. Early Fire Prevention Efforts in the United States
1. In the aftermath of a devastating fire, laws and ordinances made
a. prohibiting the storage or use of flammable materials
b. limiting hazardous occupations in certain districts
c. regulating combustible construction
2. Peter Stuyvesant, governor of what would become New York City, purchases firefighting equipment
3. Massachusetts colony prohibits smoking outdoors in 1638
4. Benjamin Franklin forms the second fire insurance company in America in 1752
5. Insurance companies only insure well-built and maintained properties
6. The industrial revolution results in larger, more congested cities
a. the threat of conflagration grows
b. investment in industrial buildings and machinery must be protected by fire insurance
c. the insurance industry most instrumental in developing means and methods of fire prevention
H. Early Efforts of the Stock Insurance Industry
1. Move toward standardization
a. uniformity in commissions and rates
b. attempts to standardize regulations within the United States
2. Supreme Court rules insurance not interstate commerce; could not be regulated by federal government
3. Insurance industry must work with each individual state legislature
4. 1944 Supreme Court reverses earlier ruling throwing insurance industry into chaos
5. National Board of Fire Underwriters forms in the wake of Portland fire in 1866
a. boy playing with firecracker starts a fire
b. 10 million dollar loss, half of which was insured
c. National Board of Fire Underwriters formed
1) maintains uniform rates and commissions
2) represses incendiaries and arson
3) devises and gives effect to measures to provide for the common interests of the group
I. The National Board of Fire Underwriter’s Accomplishments
1. Construction and fire safety codes
2. Municipal water supply
3. Fire apparatus
4. Municipal fire alarm systems
5. Fire departments
6. Fire insurance rating system
7. Funds rewards for conviction of arson
8. Forms the National Fire Protection Association in 1896
9. First publishes the National Electrical Code in 1896
10. Publishes first National Building Code in 1905
11. Publishes building and fire codes as the American Insurance Association
J. Efforts of the Factory Mutuals
1. Evolves from small groups of New England cotton mill owners in the early 1800s
2. Zachariah Allen organizes mill owners into forming a mutual fire insurance company
a. originally limited to textile manufacturing
b. each mill inspected annually
c. reported savings of over 50% of the premiums charged by stock companies
3. Edward Atkinson becomes president of Factory Mutual in 1877
a. the first to apply scientific methods to study causes of fire
b. prohibits combustible void spaces within heavy timber mill construction buildings
c. develops tin clad fire door
d. end of 1800s the Factory Mutual System was born
K. Fire Prevention Today
1. Interest in fire prevention varies depending on political and economic climate
2. During World War II, over 63,000 inspection reports of safety and security deficiencies by insurance inspectors loaned to the war department
3. The same axioms used to guide the inspectors of the National Bureau of Industrial Protection valid today
4. Government intrusion limited to what the public will bear
a. willing in the aftermath of tragedy
b. willingness fades quickly
5. Business community interest in fire prevention equal to connection to the bottom line
a. protecting property saves lives
b. hostile fire the enemy of a robust economy
L. Summary
1. National history shows our fire record to continually be the worst in the Western world
2. Public, media, and federal government are unaware of the magnitude and seriousness of the fire problem
3. Building codes were developed over time
4. We all pay a price for every fire
FIRE 2 – Fire Prevention Technology
Lesson 1 Discussion Questions
1. "Acceptable risk" is the term used to describe the level of fire risk that the general public is willing to bear at a given time. In the aftermath of a well-publicized fire incident, the level of acceptable risk changes and the public demands action. What are some fire events, both recent and within the past several years that have sparked a public outcry, and what steps were taken in response to public demand?
2. Based on your answer to question 1, which groups (public, business, special interest) were involved in the development of fire prevention strategies, what were their motives, and which were successful?
3. Based on your answer to question 1, were the steps taken to improve public safety meaningful, or were they merely window dressing to mollify the public?
Don't forget to take the quiz after lesson two!
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