
WITH THE EDITOR
What Is To Be Done?
On the past election day in New York City 304 alarms were received for bon fires and fires started by boys and others in the spirit of celebration. In answering these alarms over 1.000 pieces of apparatus rolled. Although none of the fires developed to serious proportions. it was only because that weather conditions were favorable and because the department was on its toes all the time.
The experience of other cities is on a par with that of New York.
What is to be done to remedy this condition?
Will it be tolerated until some catastrophe results to stir up public opinion against the practice ? Fourth of July fires, which were at one time a great hazard, have been effectively controlled, and there is no reason winelection fires cannot be treated accordingly.
It will, however, require the coordinated efforts of all bodies interested in fire protection to efficiently handle this problem. The making of laws will not remedy the trouble, for the successful candidates in a spirit of charity, engendered through the good feeling incidental to their success, will not force prosecution of those whom they feel were pleased at the political success and who endeavored to celebrate in a “misguided” manner.
Here’s a subject which the International Association of Fire Chiefs, in their big program for the coming year, can take up and for which they may devise methods of proper treatment.
Inflammable Decorations Barred at Christmas
An important warning has been issued by the National Board of Fire Underwriters, through its superintendent of the bureau of surveys, William B. White, in connection with the use or display of inflammable decorations during the Christmas holidays.
According to Mr. White, the standard form of insurance policy, applied equally to stores, churches, places of public assembly, clubs and private homes, absolutely prohibits the use of Christmas greens, cotton, tissue paper, or any other form of inflammable material as decorations, as such use will nullify the insurance, in case of fire.
This provision in the insurance policy should be a great advantage from the fire prevention standpoint. Most “Christmas fires” originate in some form of flimsy decoration, which takes fire through an act of carelessness, and which, by the very nature of its composition, makes a particularly quick and hot blaze.
If the insured is made to realize thoroughly that by the act of installing such inflammable decorations he is not only endangering the lives of his family, his employees, or of others, as the case may he. but also is liable to lose all through his carelessness, without any reimbursement through insurance, he will cease to take unnecessary chances, and resort to more sane and equally beautiful forms of decoration, that will not burn.
The knowledge of the facts as emphasized by the National Board should he widely circulated by the chief and the members of the fire department between now and Christmas—the sooner the better—so that storekeepers, householders, club stewards, and all who have charge of such decorations, will have no excuse to plead ignorance, and will be persuaded to employ only fire resistant material in decorating their homes, stores, etc.
This can be accomplished through personal touch— which is the best and most direct method—through the medium of the daily press, the moving picture screen, the store window, and by means of the public school children.
The public school forms an excellent means for inaugurating this kind of a safety campaign, as the scholars will be interested in such a novel idea as non-burnable decorations, and will carry it back to parents in the most direct way.
Another way to quickly spread the doctrine of noninflammable decorations would he by means of the Rotary, Kiwanis, and other civic bodies, the chamber of commerce, and any social organization willing to further the good work—and few will not be.
Any work of this nature done by the chief and his men will yield interest at several hundred per cent, in the increase of carefulness and the doing away with the serious menace of inflammable decorations at Christmastide.
Now For An Eight Hour Day
The International Association of Fire Fighters at their Annual Convention in Philadelphia last month adopted a resolution, introduced by the New York City delegation, which is intended to eventually bring into force an eight hour day for firemen.
There will he many arguments for and against the three platoon system but the chief opposition will come from those who have the responsibility of the financial end of city administration.
The question of expense will be the only logical argument against the three platoon. I.ack of funds will necessitate keeping of the personnel down and the division of the force into three parts instead of two will make fewer men on each shift. Such a condition will have its serious aspect. With the adoption of the two platoon few fire departments increased the force sufficiently to maintain the same number of men on hand at all times in the stations as were available with the single platoon.
With the advent of a three platoon system the same problem will again arise hut in a more aggravated form.
There will not In a fire chief in the country who will oppose the principle of the three platoon system, but there will be a great number who must, in view of their responsibility for the safety of the city, strenuously oppose the adoption of the three platoon if it means cutting down the number of men available at any time in quarters.
Arguments for the three platoon will he sound. While practically every other trade in the country limits the hours of work to eight or less per day. the fire field has adhered to the old custom of making the men work anywhere up to twenty-four hours a day. There will be more opposition than in the case of putting over the two platoon, and this point must he continually borne in mind. Finally, the fact that police departments operate on the three platoon and have done so for years is sufficient justification for fire departments striving for the conditions.
Look Out For These!
Just as there are prohibited beverage bootleggers, so are there also film bootleggers. From one standpoint, at least,
the latter is the more dangerous. By his practices he may cause not only the loss of life hut great loss of projicrty as well.
And here is how he operates: He secures obsolete
motion picture films, of the highly inflammable type, or else films which have been put out by any of the numerous companies which have made a stab at the motion picture business and then dropped it. Occasionally, he even secures reels of films through theft.
These films, no matter what the source, are usually handled in the same way. They are cut up into small sections and sold for use in various ways, including home projection on the toy motion picture machine; and just here is where the danger lies.
Placing such materials in the hands of children is about as dangerous as giving them dynamite to play with. Celluloid film is easily ignited and once it takes fire the blaze spreads with tremendous rapidity and with the generation of intense heat.
Only recently two lives were lost in a private house when boys playing with a toy projector, using the celluloid film, caused the film to be ignited. Only through good luck was the toll of life limited to the two victims, for at the time of the fire there were fully a score of children playing in the room where the accident took place. These inflammable films will be finding their way into stores throughout the country around the Christmas season. Unless vigorous steps are taken, and taken promptly, the Christmas season may be marked with an unusual number of casualties and a very high fire loss.
It is not the desire on the part of stores to violate any fire law, for most of these organizations would go out of their way to prevent the creation of such a hazard as is evolved through the distribution of nitro cellulose films to private houses. But it is ignorance of the properties of these films that leads stores to market them for use on toy projectors.
Now is the time to act. Have your inspectors call on the stores selling toy motion picture projectors and films and inquire as to the source of the film. If there is any question about its being of the highly inflammable type, and not of the so called “safety” type, the store in most cases will gladly offer a sample of the film for test. Secure such a sample, ignite it, and see how it burns. If it flares up and burns rapidly with a characteristic celluloid odor, it is the hazardous type. If it is hard to ignite and then after ignition burns very slowly with a tendency to diminish rather than increase in intensity, the film is of the safety type and need not he checked in its distribution.
The Christmas season is here. Have this hazard checked at once before damage results.