Transactions of the Commonwealth Club of California

On the evening of April 10, 1907, Mr. Rolla V. Watt read a paper before the Club, entitled "Fire Protection for San Francisco." Mr. Watt's paper was referred to the Section of Commercial Interests, and the May meeting was set as the time for the report of the Section and the regular discussion of the subject by the Club. Subsequently, the report of the Section and the discussion were postponed until the August meeting.* Mr. Watt's paper follows:

* Owing to the absence from the State of the chairman of the Section of Commercial Interests, no Section report on the subject was ever rendered.

PAPER BY MR. ROLLA V. WATT

Two years ago I was in the city of Funchal on the Island of Madera. The town water supply is delivered through mains on a few streets; the domestic supply from public fountains. A fire occurred, and, as often happens, the signals did not work promptly and a new engine, the only one in the department, was useless. Some citizens urged that the engine be placed on a wharf a block distant and the suction. be dropped into the bay, but the inexperienced firemen gravely asserted that salt water would add to rather than extinguish the flames, and could not be persuaded to the contrary. Meantime the fire burned, impeded only by such water as the neighbors brought in buckets. Half an hour elapsed, during which time the store in which the fire started burned out. My object in relating this story will be found in the following conclusion: That the fire did not communicate. to the floors above or to the occupancies adjoining because the houses of Funchal are constructed chiefly of stone with floors and partitions. of the same material.

By way of contrast, such a fire in San Francisco, unhindered for half an hour, would involve a building or a block, and might result in a general conflagration.

In considering the question of the fire protection for San Francisco one must always have in mind the extraordinary features of our city, -its topography, construction, isolation, and liability to seismic disturbance.

For a quarter of a century prior to April 18 last underwriters. had been expecting a disastrous fire in this city, but each year with its improvements seemed to make it less likely. In 1904 ninety-six per cent of all the buildings in San Francisco were constructed of wood. Almost the exact percentage of the buildings in the city of Philadelphia are constructed of brick or stone. Can you appreciate the difference in the probabilities of a great fire? And yet Philadelphia has an auxiliary water supply for fire purposes only. A bird's-eye view from the old Hopkins Art Institute always made the insurance. man shudder. A sea of shingle roofs, not permitted in any other city in the United States, revealed the possibilities of a fire once started on a windy day. A most strenuous fight was made by the shingle manufacturers against the adoption of an ordinance requiring fireproof roofs in a considerable section of the Western Addition. This ordinance was finally passed in 1905, but even to-day shingle roofs are permitted in all that vast section outside of the protected area indicated by the blue line on the map before you. It would be only a matter of the mildest precaution to prevent anything but fireproof roofs anywhere in the entire city of San Francisco.

In the summer of 1905 the National Board of Fire Underwriters, by its Committee of Twenty (so named because composed of twenty eminent underwriters), caused this, among many other cities, to be thoroughly examined by trained experts and engineers, who made the most exhaustive examination into all things relating to the construction and protection of our city, our government, water supply, building and other ordinances,—and reported on the same. I wish I could read you their entire report, but it is too voluminous. I will therefore content myself with giving you a few of their conclusions.

Water ownership. In the absence of a proper formal contract specifying conditions under which supply is to be furnished, water works of private ownership cannot be considered fully satisfactory features. of fire protection. In this particular case a generally unsatisfactory condition is aggravated by the strained relations of municipality and water company, with the promise of continued litigation.

Water supply-Sources claimed by the company are of adequate capacity to maintain supply to the city for several decades, but the margin of immediately available supply above the present rate of consumption is slight.

Gate valves.-Distribution of gate valves throughout the city is inadequate, as in most localities the occurrence of a break would necessitate cutting out of service long lines of mains. Failure to promptly notify the fire department of all closed valves may lead to serious delays at critical times.

Separate fire mains.-The city is contemplating the installation of an independent system of fire protection. The whole scheme is at present almost entirely prospective, and there is considerable difference of opinion as to whether salt or fresh water should be used, with the balance of opinion in favor of salt water.

The system of high-pressure fire mains advocated is the most rational solution of the problem of a satisfactory fire protection for the congested-value district. The high value, considerable extent and generally crowded condition of the district, together with the narrow streets, large proportion of frame buildings and bad exposures, make a severe conflagration hazard, and to escape the ever-present possibility of a fire calamity, as great as, or greater than, any which has devastated the business districts of other municipalities, its installation should be heroically pushed to completion.

The general features of the system proposed are good. The city is particularly fortunate in possessing available reservoir sites for a system of this kind such as are enjoyed by few other municipalities; the feature of storage in an elevated reservoir offers many advantages, besides decreasing the maintenance by eliminating the necessity for large pumping capacity. Reliability of service is, however, not insured in such a design unless connection between storage reservoir and distribution system is by duplicate mains. Distribution should be by large-sized mains, well gridironed and at least 20,000 gallons per minute should be available at pressure of upwards of 200 pounds per square inch.

Fire cisterns. Twenty-three cisterns, constructed for fire-fighting purposes, of capacities varying from 16,000 to 100,000 gallons each, are placed at scattered locations throughout the older part of the city. They are built of brick with the bottom twenty feet and the top of the dome two feet below the street level; entrance through manhole. Cisterns are maintained by the fire department, being filled from water company's mains; they are very seldom used.

Fire department.—The fire department is an efficient force. It is well organized under the command of an efficient chief, and though deficient in powerful engines, is otherwise fairly well equipped, the number of engine companies being particularly generous.

Fire alarm.-The system as a whole, although believed to have given satisfactory service, can not be considered as thoroughly reliable, as it contains several features, each of which introduces a decided element of unreliability.

Building laws. The building laws are quite extensive, deal in a comprehensive manner with practically all the phases of the building situation and, with a few amendments, such as limiting floor areas, encouraging the use of mill or slow-burning construction and the installation of sprinkler equipments and other modern protective devices, would be fairly acceptable. The ineffectiveness of a law omitting a point of such prime importance as the limitation of floor areas is, from a fire-protection standpoint, obvious.

The inability of four building inspectors to furnish a conscientious and thorough system of inspection for a city the size of San Francisco is self-evident and these unsatisfactory conditions are further increased by the supervision exercised by a board which seems not to appreciate the hazardous and dangerous conditions resulting from the nonenforcement of the building laws. The lack of protection for exposed openings is general and a bad feature of this class of construction.

Fire limits. The fire limits are fairly inclusive and provide for future growth on all sides except the one which is most likely to develop first. Hence, the limits should be extended on the south.

Electricity. Both the municipal and underwriting inspection departments are well organized, with competent inspectors, and are doing good work, but the electrical situation reveals the need of more. complete supervision in all respects. Old and new wiring contains original and acquired defects which should have been eradicated by now and which constitute a public menace. Conditions with respect to outside work are particularly alarming. Overhead wires are too prevalent and insecurely separated; high and low potential wires are in dangerous proximity in many cases. The underground district is also too restricted. Radical measures must be taken to relieve an already objectionable situation which will become worse in time if allowed to continue.

Potential conflagration hazard.—In view of the exceptionally large areas, great heights, numerous unprotected openings, general absence of fire-breaks or stops, highly combustible nature of the buildings, many

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