Evening Republican, Volume 18, Number 128, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 30 May 1914 — HEAVY LOSS IN HOTEL FIRES [ARTICLE]

HEAVY LOSS IN HOTEL FIRES

Figures Show Much Need for the Institution of the "Safety First" Idea In Such Places. Safety Engineering calls attention to the fact that in the first 92 days of this year there were 162 hotel fires in the United States and Canada. On the average a hotel went partially or completely up ln smoke every 13% hours during the period of three month* The property loss totaled

about 14,500,000, or about 160,000 a day.. Turning to the human side, the figures show that fifty-four persons were killed in these fires, not including all who may have died later as a result of injuries. On the average a human being was killed or injured every twenty hours. On every one of these 92 days from 60 to 100 persons were routed out in panic, and a large proportion of them had narrow escapes from death. The lessons, of course, are obvious,

and so often repeated that It seems hopeless to keep hammering at them. Briefly they are: First, better construction; second, better fire prevention methods; third, better systems of extinguishing fires and of alarming guests. The “safety first” crusade might with advantage be extended to the hotels. Allowing for losses in slack season, three-quarters of the women workers in New York city receive leas than MOO a year.