chapter 1
TRANSCRIPT
© 2011 Delmar, Cengage Learning
2nd Edition
The Basis forFire Prevention
Chapter 1
© 2011 Delmar, Cengage Learning
2nd Edition
Objectives
• Upon completion of this chapter, you will be able to:– Discuss the fire problem in the United States
and give reasons for its existence– Contrast the fire record of the United States
with the records of other countries
© 2011 Delmar, Cengage Learning
2nd Edition
Objectives (cont’d.)
– Name organizations that have been instrumental in our nation’s fire prevention efforts
– Discuss the effect that timing has on the adoption and enforcement, or lack of enforcement, of fire prevention regulations
© 2011 Delmar, Cengage Learning
2nd Edition
The Call for Fire Prevention—When and Why
• History of fire prevention/reduction: one of reaction and inaction
• Politics has not solved fire problem
• Insurance industry has had an impact on fire prevention
© 2011 Delmar, Cengage Learning
2nd Edition
The American Fire Problem
• U.S. fire record one of the worst in the Western world
• Documentation– America Burning (1973): milestone– America at Risk (2000)
• U.S. not applied/funded loss reduction strategies
– Fire in the United States (2001) • 2 million fire calls/year
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2nd Edition
The Current Trend
• U.S. Fire Administration Statistics– Downward trend
• Number of fires• Number of injuries/fatalities
– Direct dollar loss• Increasing
– Indirect loss• Difficult to quantify
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2nd Edition
Fire in the Early Days
• Humans used fire for heat/light around 500,000 BC
• Harnessing the power of fire– Milestone in evolution
• Impact of hostile fires on prehistoric civilization– Insignificant
• With civilization, fire became a tool
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2nd Edition
Technological Progress in Making Fire
• Matches– Primitive matches existed since Roman
Empire– Friction matches first available in early 1800s– Friction match later replaced by safety match
• Fire used as weapon against other cities
• Society made attempts to prevent fire disasters
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2nd Edition
Fire Prevention in 300 BC
• First fire prevention attempts– Familia Publica: Rome
• First municipal fire department– Corps of Vigiles: Roman Emperor Augustus,
24 BC
• Roman law assigned responsibility to “incendiaries” or arsonists
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2nd Edition
Fire Prevention in AD 1000
• Early attempts traced to England
• William the Conqueror, 1066– Home fires to be extinguished at bell ringing
• Couvre feu -> “curfew”• England’s first curfew: Oxford in AD 872
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2nd Edition
Fire Prevention in AD 1500
• English cities passed regulations for bakers/candle makers, 1500s
• Laws enacted to regulate wooden chimneys and thatched roofs
• Differing levels of success
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2nd Edition
Fire Prevention in AD 1666
• Great Fire of London, 1666– Approximately 17,000 deaths/year at the time– Parliament enacted London Building Act
• Commissioners appointed to enforce regulations in 1774
• Barbon promoted insurance of buildings– London Fire Office
• Fire brigade
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2nd Edition
Fire in American History
• Jamestown’s buildings destroyed, 1608
• Nine fires before the American Revolution– Boston
• Most famous conflagration: Chicago 1871
• Safeguarding the Home Against Fire– National Board of Fire Underwriters– Given to over two million schoolchildren, 1918
• Effective prevention of fire not a tradition
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2nd Edition
Early Prevention Efforts in the U.S.
• Undertaken by state/local governments– Usually in the aftermath of devastating fires
• Smoking outdoors prohibited, 1638– Massachusetts
• Efforts by nongovernmental organizations also occurred in the American Colonies
• Friendly Society for the Mutual Insuring of Houses Against Fire, founded 1735
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2nd Edition
FIGURE 1-6The Hand-in-Hand firemark of the Philadelphia Contributionship. (Courtesy of The Philadelphia Contributorship for the Insurance of Houses from Loss by Fire)
FIGURE 1-4Governor Peter Stuyvesant instituted the “Rattle Watch,” fire wardens that carriedwooden rattles to sound an alarm of fire. (Courtesy National Museum of American History, Kenneth E. Behring Center, Smithsonian Institution)
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2nd Edition
Early Efforts of the Stock Insurance Industry
• Worked for uniformity in commissions/rates
• Attempted to standardize regulations in the U. S.
• Attempted to force Congress to develop federal regulations
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2nd Edition
The National Board of Fire Underwriter’s Accomplishments
• Failed at maintaining rates/commissions
• National Fire Protection formed in 1896
• National Electrical Code published in 1896
• Surveys of city fire departments after 1904 Baltimore conflagration
• National Building Code published in 1905
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2nd Edition
Efforts of the Factory Mutuals
• Mill owners organized into mutual fire insurance company
• Mutual fire insurance: not-for-profit company with policyholders as members
• E. Atkinson presided Factory Mutual, 1877– Applied scientific methods to study fire causes– Prohibited combustible void spaces– Developed the tin-clad fire door
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2nd Edition
Fire Prevention Today
• Approach and methods vary greatly
• National Bureau of Industrial Protection– Axioms that guided inspectors still valid
• Interests of business community in fire prevention goes directly to the bottom line
• Businesses protect their financial interests– Success in protecting property/saving lives
© 2011 Delmar, Cengage Learning
2nd Edition
Summary
• Fire record one of worst in Western world
• Annual losses from natural disasters– A fraction of losses from fires
• Failed to implant prevention of fire as individual’s obligation to the community
• Costs associated with hostile fires– Increased insurance premiums, loss of jobs,
and erosion of the tax base