THE RECENT FIRE AT MELBOURNE. 1001 
size of an undivided building in hazardous or valuable city blocks. 
For London the limit has been fixed at 216,000 cubic feet, equiva- 
lent to a cube of 60 feet, and this seems to be quite as large as 
safety permits. Of course, it means inconvenience and extra 
expense to those businesses which require larger accommodation ; 
but they would, in my opinion, be well incurred to minimise the 
risk of such calamities. Limitation in height is also as essential 
as limitation of cubical contents, and on this point fire authorities 
seem to be agreed that 60 feet is the utmost that, with a good 
supply of water, can be effectively grappled with. In the centre 
of our larger cities, where land is so valuable, and concentration 
of trade is essential, this height would, however, seriously curtail 
business enterprise. I would therefore suggest that an extension 
to 90 feet should be permitted, provided the construction is of a 
fire-resisting character, and that the roof especially be incombus- 
tible. In such buildings, rising above the height to which hose- 
jets can reach, it would also be desirable for each to have its own 
special water-tanks on the roof, containing at least 1 gallon to 
every 50 cubic feet of building, and its own fire-main and fire-hose 
to every floor. Fink’s Buildings possessed the tanks and the hose, 
but they could not be used as the roof and upper storeys, being 
combustible, caught too rapidly, and thus became a distributing 
centre that, with Craig Williamson’s, set fire to the rest of the 
block. 
The next point is one that is constantly being urged by fire- 
brigade officials, viz., the necessity of fire-breaks in all large, 
congested, or valuable blocks. The best form is a strong wall, 
solid from bottom to top, and with a flat incombustible roof behind 
it. This is difficult to obtain, owing to the pressing demand for 
light within the buildings, and to the erratic subdivision of 
property. It would only be generally feasible if the sites were 
in one ownership, private or municipal, and leased on specific terms. 
To continue the subject further would, however, lead us into an 
abstract discussion of political or social economics, and would be 
foreign to the objects of this paper. 
Another form of fire-break is a sufficiently wide lane, or open 
space ; and if a block does not possess such, it should be within the 
power of municipalities to enforce its construction, the cost thereof 
being borne by themunicipality, as representing the general public, 
and the owners of the sites comprising the blocks. 
The disastrous fire under notice teaches its newest lesson in 
connection with roofs, showing up the danger of those of ordinary 
construction, and the comparative safety of a flat incombustible 
one. There is no question the fire spread principally through the 
roofs and upper storeys catching first, and that the Mutual Store 
owed its preservation in a large measure to its flat asphalte roof. 
Contrary to a general impression, asphalte is incombustible as laid 
