NEAFC 32nd Annual Conference.pdf - New England Association of ...

ENGLAND ASSOCIATION Ol ¯ FIRE CHIEFS ~
is that we don’t have more trouble with them, and from them. They are
severely abused.
Arid, all of us have gone into ° homes and have s~en cords, and we have
gone into plants and seen things that have shocked us. And yet, the men
who are good production men, alert and active, know about these things.
There are short circuits, or grounds, due to installation breakdowns, and these
cause many fires, and they are a hazard. They are not always visible. It isn’t
always easy to go through and find them.
Our men, in a very elementary way, are told to check the fuse panels,
to check the motors, to check the equipment, as they go through.
I know that in textile mills, for example, as we go through, there used
to be the old idea that you could walk through and tap a few motors or looms,
and that made up the story of inspection. Since those days, however, we have
gone ahead and asked the manufacturers to develop better fuse panels, better
motors, better electrical equipment, on looms and textile equipment.
And, that same carry-over has. gone into all the realms. We have the
explosion proof motors, which we use in inflammable liquids, and in_ areas where
gas concentrations are present.
And so it is with time and temperature; they are two principal enemies
of the installation, on these wiring systems. They, too, have their own part
in adding to the trouble coming from electrical fires..
It would be easy to run through some of the hazards that you find. There
are the motors and generators. And, while in generating equipment particularly,
it isn’t a great factor, it is a common ~factor, not from the standpoint of
numbers, but the losses, are great, and the dislocation of industry and the
normal pursuits of life are tremendous.
Then, of course, that same statement may be made verbatim for transformer
fires. We see a few of them that do much damage.
But, again, the use and occupancy phase, or the phase of interruption in
the ordinary pursuits, of life, is tremendous.
Then, of course, you know, yourselves, the problem of switches, and
controls of all kinds. There may be faulty terminals, lack of bushings, resulting
in frayed insulations. And the first thing you know, you have a fire.
From these things stem fires, frequently, because hot filaments and hot spots
drop into combustibles.
It seems that in some plants, not in the better ones, that the areas right
underneath a panel box, or an open switch or something of that kind, seem to
be the finest place to put the old cartons, empty, or to be removed by the waste
collectors. And then the electrical system in general gets in trouble.
You know, and ~ it seems that the more and more we get of electrical
equipment, the more and more possibility there is of getting into this trouble
business.
You men are in a better position than we are to-know about the~e things,
because as the wide-spread use of electricity becomes more and more a factor
in our lives, you are more aware of it.
In the plant, and in industry, where we are familiar, we find it to be
a parallel experience, and so our men, as they go through our training course,
81