NEAFC 31st Annual Conference.pdf - New England Association of ...

NEW ENGLAND ASSOCIATION OF FIRE CHIEFS
I am sure you could help him too in planning his exits from the building. I am
sure that at the time of his. annual inspection, or that of the superintendent of schools,
of the building in which many of them ~use, your ~national fire protection blank for
checking, that it would be of great value if he would call upon you people to go around
the building and check with him.
Now as inexperienced as I am in the matter of fire safety in a building, I can go
into a building sometimes and see things that are very wrong as far as safety from fire
exists.-:t: ~’an se4 tl}e i’~k{ih’guishers hidden in corners, hidden under garments hanging.
I have asked teachers where the nearest fire extinguisher to the room is? "I don’t know."
In one place in the dead of winter I found all the fire extinguishers in the basement
where they would freeze in the winter when they are most likely to be needed. I have
been in school buildings to look at the hose to realize they were full of holes and would
burst very readily, and I am inexpe~ed-~ed in your line. 8~e how much you could do
¯ . , t: . ~ ’o ~’ , ’ ’
if you went through a bud&ng w,th the prmc,pal, saw those things and helped him
plan differently. :
.
C~AIRMAN ]~RSKINE: We are running short of time, about seven minutes left¯
CHIEF FRED E. WHELAN, Milton, Massachusetts: How can a Chief of Police
have a town inspection made similar to that made in the town of Natick, Chief Brown?
CHAIRMAN KENNETH H. ERSKINE: I believe it was last year we discussed the subject
of town inspections rather thoroughly. Town inspections are put on by members of
the Bay State Association and fire prevention inspections are arranged, after a city or
town through its municipal authority has requested such inspection. In the case of
Natick the Board of Selectmen made an official request that the Bay State Fire Prevention
Association inspect their town and it was made with the cooperation of Chief
Brown and the agents’ association in the town, and civic organizations located in the
town. It is a rather large undertaking and perhaps "Bud;" Brown would like to just say
a word as to what it accomplished in the town of Natick.
CHIEF LYMAN GI BROWN, Natick, M~ssachusetts: They brought in 100 men and
inspected the town in one day and they were only refused admission to two buildings.
One of them was called back afterward and the owner d~cided to have it inspected!.
The other was a man who has a small greenhouse who carries no insurance and that
explains pretty much the type of indi4cidual he was. ~-
As a result of it they tagged, I believe, four buildings dilapidated that should be
removed. We have one in the process of being removed now and two more will be as
soon as the people can get to it. They are definitely getting to it. The third is in an
estate and as you fellows all realize, it is hard to do.
The hardest job I had in connection with this whole project was selling the idea to
the Board of Selectmen. They were afraid to have the inspection made. Ffhey were
afraid it would create ill feeling in the town and I can truthfully say there was not
one complaint. They tagged a lot of d~efects, some minor and some proba.bly major.
We have 90 per cent tied up with the exception of a few, and one was the gas line
pump in the public works building. It has been there for twenty years and it probably
will take a little time to get it moved outside, but in general the common hazards have
been cleaned out.
We had more rubbish taken to the dump two weeks before the inspection than
normally in six months. We do inspect work as well as most towns of our size can.
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