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Principles of Fire Prevention

Chapter One

The Basis for Fire Prevention

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Learning Objectives

  • Discuss the fire problem in the United States and give reasons for its existence.
  • Contrast the fire record of the United States with other countries.
  • 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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U.S. Fire Problem (1 of 3)

  • Fire Departments respond to an average of 2 million fire calls each year.
  • The fire problem, on a per capita basis, is one of the worst in the industrial world.
  • Annual losses from floods, hurricanes, tornadoes, earthquakes, and other natural disasters combined average just a fraction of the losses from fires.

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U.S. Fire Problem (2 of 3)

  • The public, the media, and local governments are generally unaware of the magnitude and seriousness of the fire problem to individuals and their families, to communities, and to the nation.
  • What is the general public’s attitude when watching the daily news regarding a fire displacing a family or crime against people?

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U.S. Fire Problem (3 of 3)

  • America Burning – 1973
  • America Burning Revisited – 1986
  • America at Risk – 2000
  • All contained nearly identical assessments

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Fire

  • Humans “captured” fire around 500,000 B.C.
  • It enabled early humans to expand their territory.
  • The ability of humans to “make” fire was a significant development.
  • Firing pottery and smelting metals were the beginnings of “industry.”

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Early Fire Prevention Efforts

  • Familia Publica – Rome 300 B.C. – Slaves were organized onto night watch and firefighting forces.
  • Corps of Vigiles – Rome 24 B.C. - First municipal fire Brigade.
  • Couvre feu – England 1066 – A required curfew for covering all home fires.

Early Fire Prevention Efforts

  • Great London Fire – 1666 – Destroyed

13,200 homes

87 Churches

20 Warehouses

100,000 Boats

6 people died,(68,000 deaths attributed to the bubonic plague in 1665).

Fire burned for five days.

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Great London Fire

  • Fire insurance

  • Formation of the London Fire Office

  • Formation of a fire brigade (only for insured buildings)

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Fire in the American Colonies

  • Jamestown, Virginia – 1608
  • Jamestown nearly abandoned as a result
  • Boston, Massachusetts – nine serious fires before 1776
  • Law banning smoking outdoors – 1638
  • New Amsterdam – Rattle Watch

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Fire Insurance in the American Colonies (1 of 2)

  • Charleston, South Carolina -- 1735
  • Friendly Society for the Mutual Insuring of Houses Against Fire
  • Mutual – held in common by 2 or more parties
  • Failed after a disastrous fire

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Fire Insurance in the American Colonies (2 of 2)

  • Philadelphia, Pennsylvania – 1752
  • Philadelphia Contributionship for the Insurance of Houses from Loss by Fire-Benjamin Franklin
  • Still in existence today

Benjamin Franklin

  • 1736 Benjamin Franklin stared the first all volunteer Fire Brigade in America
  • Located in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
  • Union Fire Company

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Insurance Strategy (1 of 2)

  • Insuring only well-built and consistently maintained properties
  • Providing periodic inspections to upgrade the structure to maintain the level of risk
  • Had the effect of improving fire-safe construction and promoting general fire prevention practices

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Insurance Strategy (2 of 2)

  • High-risk combustible construction or unsafe practices resulted in prohibitively high premiums or denial of insurance coverage.

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Major Conflagrations (1 of 4)

 

June 1820 Savannah, GA $3,000,000
December 1835 New York City $17,000,000
December 1835 Charleston, SC $6,000,000
September 1839 New York City $4,000,000
May 1851 San Francisco $3,500,000
March 1852 New Orleans $5,000,000

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Major Conflagrations (2 of 4)

 

July 1866 Portland, ME $10,000,000
October 1871 Chicago $168,000,000
November 1872 Boston $70,000,000
June 1889 Seattle $5,000,000
November 1889 Lynn, MA $5,000,000

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Major Conflagrations (3 of 4)

 

October 1892 Milwaukee $5,000,000
July 1900 Hoboken, NJ $5,500,000
May 1901 Jacksonville, FL $11,000,000
February 1904 Baltimore $40,000,000
October 1892 Milwaukee $5,000,000

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Major Conflagrations (4 of 4)

 

April 1906 San Francisco (earthquake & fire) $350,000,000
April 1908 Chelea,Mass. 3,500 buildings $12,000,000

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July 4,1866, Portland Conflagration

  • July 7, 1866—Meeting of the insurance industry in New York
  • Adopted a resolution to form the National Board of Fire Underwriters (still in exsistance)
  • Laid the groundwork for much of our present system of fire protection and prevention

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National Board of Fire Underwriters (1 of 4)

  • Maintain uniform rates and commissions.
  • Repress incendiarism and arson.
  • Devise and give effect to measures to provide for the common interests of the insurance industry.

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National Board of Fire Underwriters (2 of 4)

  • Although the Board failed at its original mission of maintaining rates and commissions
  • The Board’s other activities were substantial.

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National Board of Fire Underwriters (3 of 4)

  • Funded rewards for the conviction of arson
  • Developed guidelines for municipal water supplies and firefighting apparatus that evolved into today’s standards
  • National Fire Protection Association (NFPA)
  • Formed under the auspices of the Board in 1896 to promote uniformity in fire protection standards

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National Board of Fire Underwriters (4 of 4)

Underwriters Laboratories began as the Underwriters’ Electrical Bureau

Developed the first model codes

Developed the municipal grading system

Created National Board pamphlets that later became NFPA standards

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Factory Mutuals (1 of 2)

  • Organized by New England mill owners as “not-for-profit” insurance cooperatives
  • Limited membership to best-run mills
  • Lowered fire risks
  • Required annual inspection
  • Realized savings of more than 50%

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Factory Mutuals (2 of 2)

  • Formed an inspection branch
  • Factory Mutual Engineering
  • Known today as FM Global

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Fire Prevention (1 of 3)

  • Government efforts are limited by public sentiment, since government officials are ultimately accountable to the voters.
  • In the aftermath of a significant fire loss, the public may be willing, in fact eager, to allow increased government intrusion into their activities. - This willingness fades over time.(Station Night Club Fire)

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Fire Prevention (2 of 3)

  • The interest of the business community in fire prevention goes directly to the bottom line.
  • Many people have looked down on this motive as coarse and perhaps even inhumane.

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Fire Prevention (3 of 3)

  • Some of the greatest successes in protecting property and saving lives have evolved from the efforts of businesses to protect their financial interests.
  • Protecting property saves lives.

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Summary (1 of 3)

  • Our national fire record has historically been one of the worst in the western world.
  • The problem is not a new one.
  • Our forefathers had the very same problem, perhaps to a greater degree.

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Summary (2 of 3)

  • The abundance of lumber as a cheap building material combined with the desire to build quickly and with few restrictions resulted in overcrowded, poorly planned cities that were targets for massive conflagrations.

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Summary (3 of 3)

  • As we matured as a nation, building codes were developed and adopted, cities installed extensive water systems, established fire departments, and enforced building and zoning regulations.
  • In many cases, these improvements were literally forced down the throats of elected officials by the insurance industry.