Fires, Fire Engines, and Fire Brigades; With a History of Manual and Steam Fire Engines [ Book

General Books publication date: 2009 Original publication date: 1866 Notes: This is a black and white OCR reprint of the original. It has no illustrations and there may be typos or missing text. When you buy the General Books edition of this book you get free trial access to Million-Books.com where you can select from more than a million books for free. Excerpt: CHATTER V. FIREPROOF STRUCTURES. The construction of buildings entirely fireproof and uninflammable has long been a favourite idea, and one on which no small amount of thought and money have been expended, but unfortunately with anything but satisfactory results. So far as practice and experience have hitherto taught us, no safety from the destructive ravages of fire has been or can be obtained by the use of the most uninflammable materials for building purposes, unless some other modes of employing them be adopted than those hitherto used. Most of the tremendous and disastrous conflagrations of late years have either originated in or extended to these so-called 'fireproof structures; and as in these the most valuable goods and materials have been stored, on account of the assumed security afforded thereby, the losses have been correspondingly heavy. In most of the large London fires which have occurred of late years in these so-called ' fireproof buildings, it has generally been found that, when once the fire has got hold, it is a waste of power to attempt to save the premises in which the fire broke out, and the exertions of the men have consequently been found to be better employed in preventing the fire from spreading to the adjoining premises; for we read that at the great fire in Gresham Street, ' finding it a forlorn hope to save the principal buildings in which the fire was raging, the efforts of the firemen were at length directed to protect the surrounding property.' When these buildings, even those the most scientifically and expensively constructed, are, when on fire, once allowed to ' ...Read More