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

NEW ENGLAND ASSOCIATION OF FIRE CHIEFS
One of the most interesting and impqrtant devetc,pments ha.s been the study made of
the East River Project. We had an opportunity to participate in that project. It is a
very voluminuous report, some 1000 pages of material. It is not possible to digest this
at a meeting of this sort, but the direction of this type of thinking was that we should
demand of the Air Force at least a one-hour warning and prove that that w, as a rea~onable
demand to make upon the Military.
Secondly, there are various measures taken now in the future to make our cities
and principal target areas less vulnerable to fire than they_ are today, and those ought
to be put into operation immediately.
Third, we should have a much more realistic and workable Civil Defen.se on State,
Federal and local levels, and a complete reorganization of the Civil Defense set-up was
recommended,. I think the fire department has a great stake that hasn’t been appreciated;
ha~n’t been given an opportunity to take hold the way it should, and I have attended
a number of conferences with officers of the International on this subject. With
the new administration in .Washington, and particularly the new set-up in Civil Defense,
there is hope the fire service will be permitted to take its rightful plade in the
planning ....
One of the current items has been brought about ’by the series Of very disastrous
m~rsing homefires in thi.s country, , with a considerable loss of life ~.to these helpless and
old people, and I am glad to say these national organizations have finally come to recognize
the importance of doing something £1~6,u~ :i~: We have developed material which
has been distributed to every nursing home throughout the country, and we are hopeful
that ,_a.t least a partial solution of this very serious problem of burning up these helpless
and aged people has ’been made and will be made in the coming months, becau.se there
is a tremendous amount of-interest and.legislation is being presented in various states
to get some inspection tl~rough fire marshals-xnd others.
One of the most important and very,:r~;ent developments that I think would be
of interest to you is in connection with this question of co.mbu’stible interior finish (fibre
board) which has been responsible for many fires in hospitals, hotels and institution
build~ings. Some will burn fifty,~o,o~ight_g~_im~g faster. People living in one-story homes
can’t..get.out with their lives ......................
It is a very serious problem, beecause that type of board i.s popular; it is goodlooking
and carpenters like it. We have recently prevailed upon the entire .industry-some
twenty manufacturers were involved--that fr.om now on, as fast as they can
convert, they will no longer sell any combustible fibre board unless it is given a fireproof
coating at the factory. ’That is industry policy fromnow on, so I think we have
. made tremendous ,strides forward in getting a reduction in the very serio,us loss of life
we have had in our public buildings of all kinds from the sales and use of this highly
combustible proda~ct~ ¯
Another development of particular importance in New England--where we have
every state in New England under model fire contact--took such action after a bitter
fight--with which ~ill the Connecticut chiefs are familiar. The fireworks manufacturers
are quite desperate over the situation. They are introducing bills all over the country
to ’back down on the m.o, del~fireworks laws. It was introdueed in Maine and New Hampshire
and stopped by very prompt action when we found out and appealed
to Fire Chiefs, Governors and others.
A similar controversy is going on in Ohio and Illinois. There is a .Federal Bill,