1. The Basis for
Fire Prevention
Chapter 1
2nd Edition
© 2011 Delmar, Cengage Learning

2. 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
2nd Edition
© 2011 Delmar, Cengage Learning

3. 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
2nd Edition
© 2011 Delmar, Cengage Learning

4. 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
2nd Edition
© 2011 Delmar, Cengage Learning

5. 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
2nd Edition
© 2011 Delmar, Cengage Learning

6. 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
2nd Edition
© 2011 Delmar, Cengage Learning

7. 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
2nd Edition
© 2011 Delmar, Cengage Learning

8. 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
2nd Edition
© 2011 Delmar, Cengage Learning

9. 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
2nd Edition
© 2011 Delmar, Cengage Learning

10. 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
2nd Edition
© 2011 Delmar, Cengage Learning

11. 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
2nd Edition
© 2011 Delmar, Cengage Learning

12. 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
2nd Edition
© 2011 Delmar, Cengage Learning

13. 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
2nd Edition
© 2011 Delmar, Cengage Learning

14. 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
2nd Edition
© 2011 Delmar, Cengage Learning

15. FIGURE 1-4 FIGURE 1-6
Governor Peter Stuyvesant instituted the The Hand-in-Hand firemark of
“Rattle Watch,” fire wardens that carried the Philadelphia
wooden rattles to sound an alarm of fire. Contributionship. (Courtesy of
(Courtesy National Museum of American The Philadelphia Contributorship for
History, Kenneth E. Behring Center, the Insurance of Houses from Loss
Smithsonian Institution) by Fire)
2nd Edition
© 2011 Delmar, Cengage Learning

16. 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
2nd Edition
© 2011 Delmar, Cengage Learning

17. 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
2nd Edition
© 2011 Delmar, Cengage Learning

18. 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
2nd Edition
© 2011 Delmar, Cengage Learning

19. 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
2nd Edition
© 2011 Delmar, Cengage Learning

20. 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
2nd Edition
© 2011 Delmar, Cengage Learning