200 SUGGESTIONS FOR REDUCING THE LOSS BY FIRE ON VESSELS. 



Fires are frequently caused by gasoline cooking stoves. Only such stoves as 

 have been approved by the Board of Fire Underwriters should be installed, 

 and the woodwork around should be protected and no curtains should be 

 hung near them. The main tank on the boat and the tank from the stove 

 should be filled by daylight only and away from a flame of any kind. On 

 motor boats carrying passengers for hire, smoking should be prohibited, as 

 this has caused many disasters. 



The problem of extinguishing fires on motor boats is a difficult one, 

 as entire dependence has to be placed on extinguishers. If the draperies 

 or woodwork catch fire, the average approved extinguisher can handle it, 

 but if the gasoline on the bilge water is ignited, and there are no buUdieads, 

 the entire boat will instantly be in flames, and if there is any quantity of 

 gasoline it is doubtful if any motor boat carries sufficient equipment to 

 extinguish it. This year Congress passed a bill in relation to motor boats, 

 one of the provisions being that every motor boat should "carry ready for 

 immediate use the means of promptly and effectually extinguishing burning 

 gasoline." The act does not specify what will do this, but on June 9, 1910, 

 the Department of Commerce and Labor issued a circular in reference to 

 the act addressed to "Collectors of Customs and Others Concerned," and 

 signed by Benj. S. Cable, Acting Secretary, which contains the following 

 paragraph : — 



"No specific means of promptly and effectually extinguishing burning 

 gasoline are prescribed. Besides the usual fire extinguishers, suitable chemi- 

 cals or bags of coarse flour or sand will serve the purpose." Imagine a 

 man, relying on this government circular, taking his wife and children out 

 in a motor boat with nothing but a bag of flour (itself very inflammable) 

 to promptly and efl'ectually extinguish burning gasoline floating on bilge 

 water. The motor-boat departments of several insurance companies held 

 a test at the Buffalo Yacht Club, Buffalo, N. Y., on September i, to deter- 

 mine the efficiency of the diff'erent makes of extinguishers. Plate 65 shows 

 some photographs of the test. A flat-bottomed punt 16 feet long by 4 

 feet wide was procured, side boards were nailed on and a floor was put in 

 6 inches above the bottom in which a hole 2 feet square was cut to represent 

 the opening around the engine. The punt was hauled out on shore; for 

 each test 2 inches of water was put in the bottom and a gallon of gasoline 

 poured on it and ignited. Fourteen trials were held, tlie extinguishers being 

 operated by a fireman detailed by the fire department, and in every instance 

 when the extinguisher was exhausted the gasoline was still blazing. Later 

 three extinguishers used simultaneously failed to extinguish it. In a fire 

 of this kind it is the area and not the amount of gasoline that is the deter- 



