: ...... "r''v':. -j .'-'i:V1v-?-V'-,
- ; . -
.' fill
mmw9 sL X
"to, :
U& (Bill 13EHD
OHOBOS oD
0
-pHE flames which roared through a Chicago
I school a few weeks ago to take the lives of 90
children and three teachers have burned into the
national consciousness the alarming question: Are
our schools potential firetraps?
Unfortunately, it seems that many are!
The National Board of Fire Underwriters had
warned in 1957 that most of America's school
buildings are not as fire-safe as they ought to be.
But it took the Chicago tragedy to make many
public officials and parents take a fresh look at
their local schools. They saw many shortcomings
from the safety standpoint.
In fact, Michigan's superintendent of public in
struction estimated that his state has at least 1,800
schools which must be considered fire hazards. In
Kentucky, the state fire marshal said that what
happened in Chicago could happen to three-fourths
of that state's schools.
Actually, the inferno at Our Lady of the Angels
school in Chicago was only one of some 4,000 that
broke out in U.S. schools last year! It also ranked
third among America's most tragic school disasters
a 1937 explosion claimed 294 lives in New Lon
don, Tex., and a 1908 fire killed 174 in Collinwood,
O. Luckily, most school fires occur outside of class
hours and very few cause personal injury.
In fact, not one child was killed in the worst
school fires fires causing $250,000 damage or more
in 1957, the last year of complete records.
Analyzing the reports on these 19 major blazes,
the National Fire Protection Association found the
same shortcomings it has found in America's
schools for years: Discovery of the fires was de
layed, automatic protection devices were lacking,
and buildings had construction weaknesses.
Discovering the fire was delayed "seriously" in
all these 19 worst cases. In the Chicago holocaust,
too, the blaze was not detected promptly and the
alarm was delayed.
None of the 19 schools struck by the biggest fires
had automatic sprinklers or an automatic warning
system. Neither did Our Lady of the Angels.
"It is obvious that there are no new lessons to
be learned from the Chicago fire," the N.F.P.A.
declares, "just old lessons re-emphasized!"
As for building construction, over the years the
association has found these flaws to be most com
mon among schools suffering serious fires: They
are built of wood, or brick with wood floors; they
have interiors of combustible wallboard; they lack
fire-division walls to break up large spaces; they
have unshielded vertical openings such as open
stairways through which flames may freely soar
upward; non-fires topped walls; and concealed
spaces above the ceilings.
N
ow what was the situation at Our Lady of the
Angels? The school building was 50 years old,
made of brick with wood floors and laths; its
ceilings were finished in acoustical tile of low fire
resistance. The blaze, which began in the base
ment, came up the stairwell and was prevented
from entering the first-floor classrooms by a heavy
door but there was no such door on the second
floor, so the flames flew down the corridor and infci
the classrooms. Says the fire association: "How
different the story might have been . . . We can
turn the tragedy of Chicago into a gain for all
humanity if we take its lessons to heart."
In considering your own local school, you may
feel assured. It may be fairly new, modern in
family Weekly, fcbruary IS, 1959