Fire Walls to Combat the Fire Menace 



The principle is similar to that of the cyclone 

 cellar or the collision bulkhead of the ocean steamer 



WHEN the Asch building fire, in 191 1, 

 snuffed out the lives of one hundred 

 and forty-five girls, the newspapers 

 in indignation demanded adequate protec- 

 tion for factory workers. New and larger 

 fire-escapes were placed on practically 

 every building, fire drills were instituted, 

 existing stairways were broadened, and 

 fireproof materials of all kinds were devised 

 over night. Today we rest easy in the 

 knowledge that the factory fire-hazard is at 

 last eliminated. We are only fooling 

 ourselves. 



The word "fire-escape," as applied to the 

 usual exterior exit from a building in time of 

 fire, is a misnomer. It should be, in most 

 instances, "fire-trap." And our fire-drills, 

 held with such regularity under the fire 



spite 



IL 



Fire in a typical New York loft building. In 



of fire laws and drills the fire escapes are inadequate, 



the stairways jammed and the elevators stopped 



868 



prevention laws, fail utterly under emer- 

 gency conditions. This is not due to the 

 design of the fire-escape or the weakness in 

 the fire drill, but to inherent defects in the 

 design of the buildings. Architects and 

 builders generally fail to realize that the 

 capacity of a fire-escape or stairway is 

 limited, and that a multi-storied building, 

 intended to be occupied by large numbers of 

 people on each floor, must be supplied with 

 special means for meeting the exigencies of a 

 rapid egress. 



Although the fire-drill has been made 

 compulsory in several States, it is the dread 

 of most factory owners. In some New 

 York city shops the workers absolutely 

 refuse to go out on fire escapes that are from 

 ttMi to thirty stories above the street. 

 When a fire drill interrupts the 

 day's work, the day is practically 

 lost, because some girls among the 

 workers become hysterical and 

 others take several hours to get 

 back into the spirit of their work. 

 Of course the fire drills in the 

 public schools have reached a 

 high point of efficiency, but ac- 

 cording to one prominent investi- 

 gator who studied the fire-hazard 

 (juestion, there was not a single 

 concern he visited which had de- 

 xeloped a scheme of rapid dis- 

 missal similar to the school-drill. 



Mr. H. F. J. Porter, an engineer 

 and advisory expert on fire pre- 

 \'ention, who was one of the first 

 to institute fire drills in factories 

 to facilitate the escape of the 

 occupants in case of fire, early saw 

 the shortcomings of the fire drill 

 and the inadequacy of the fire 

 escape. In casting about for some 

 other method of escape from fire 

 lie has pressed into service the 

 most natural and available means 

 at his disposal: a wall of substan- 

 tial and fireproof construction, 

 extending from cellar to roof, with 

 doorways in it on each floor. 



In case of fire on one side of the 

 wall, the people on that side simply 

 pass through the doorways, close 

 the fireproof doors and are perfect- 



