MAKING OUR CITIES FIRE PROOF
Ekern, Herman L.
Making Our Cities Fire Proof What Can be Done to Lessen the Hazard of Conflagrations By HERMAN L. EKERN Former Insurance Committioner of Witconsin. THE congested parts of our cities can be made...
...Sprinkler protection goes further, in that it is designed to catch every fire and practically eliminate losses...
...Their rate, of loss is about 5 2-3 cents per $100 at risk, as compared with a general loss rate, of 49 cents on all property in the United States...
...The whole cost is ordinarily repaid from the reductions in the insurance premiums during four to, eight years...
...Equally Effective and Economical for Small Properties THK advantages of sprinkfer equipment are not confined to large properties...
...If no fire can get a start, there will be no considerable losses and no conflagrations...
...The other is secured from a tank placed above the highest line of sprinklers, or from air pressure tanks or specially designed pumps...
...Before sprinklers were installed, th* losses on cotton mills and other property insured by these companies were so great as to make them unprofitable at rates from $1.00 to $3.00 or even higher...
...Entire Congested District Must Be Covered SUCH equipment should cover tha entire congested section of a city...
...The city water main ordinarily furnishes one source of supply...
...Every interest of the property owner makes it desirable...
...ceiling to sprinkler heads so placed as to he from eight to ten feet apart each way...
...Sprinkler Equipment SPRINKLER equipment is a system which automatically throws water upon any fire, starting in a building...
...Such other changes and Improvements as necessary will inevitably come about along with such installation...
...THE congested parts of our cities can be made conflagration and Are proof immediately...
...To secure this result, tbe equipment, must be standard two source, properly installed and efficiently and regularly inspected so that it shall be in good working order to catch any incipient fire...
...An investment would be considered good anywhere that pays for itself in this time and yields an equal profit each year afterwards...
...It does not wait for the slow process of rebuilding...
...resulting greater care should reasonably reduce the number of fires and the amount of losses by one-half...
...There is no financial, physical or engineering reason why this should not bo done...
...Against this, the average insurance premium rate for all property throughout, tbe United States is !>7 cents per $100, and the average rate for all property throughout Wisconsin is $1.04 per $100...
...The effect is to make a building prop erly equipped and protected practically fire proof provided the equipment is kept in order...
...A complete sprinkler equipment will do this Fos an entire city disTRict the same as it now does this for an entire mercantile or...
...Sprinklered risks are now written hy the Mutuals at rates which, omitting the element of interest on the deposit premium, run as low as 4 cents per $100, and stock companies arc taking the sprinklered risks on rates ranging down to 15 cents and J2 cents, or even to 8 cents per $100...
...These heads open by the melting of a fusible metal at about 150' V. immediately extinguishing any fire below...
...To make the supply ol water certain at all times, there must be two sources of water supply, to provide which becomes comparatively expensive for small properties...
...One is indifference and lactc of information on the part of property owners and the public...
...It must cover every part of, the district...
...manufacturing plant...
...Sprinkler protection may bo made as effective and as economical for small properties as for large properties hy the co-operation bttween adjoining owners in providing the additional water supply from a common source...
...Its benefits follow immediately and apply to all classes of buildings and to the contents...
...There are two reasons why it has not be«?n done...
...The other is "the perhaps largely unconscious opposition of those who handle the I'arge insurance premiums which would be cut to half or one-fourth, or even 'less, by such change...
...It must also be protected against extraordinary exposure fires from outside the district...
...This equipment may now be seen in the larger stores and factories, most of which are now so equipped...
...Ordinarily this water is carried from a tank and the city mains through parallel piping under the...
...For forty years the New England Factory Mill Mutuals have confined their insurance almost wholly to sprinklered ' properties...
...In this respect it is even more effective than the lest fire proof construction which does not prevent the burning of combustible contents...
...Thorough inspections and the...
...This has the added advantage of giving practical immunity from business interruptions and loss of property and life by fire...
Vol. 9 • January 1917 • No. 1
