Chapter 1

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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

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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

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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

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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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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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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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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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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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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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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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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

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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