Loss of Life in Building Fires

The disastrous history in the years before the organization of the Committee on Safety to Life in 1993 is manifest. During that time there was no systematic work with the primary object of life protection. In the second half of the tens and in the course of twenties, the record improved considerably and began to worse again in the thirties.

In the 1940 and 1944 period, dominated by World War II, the record regressed sharply to the level of the first years of the 20-th century. The worst fires occurred in clubs: the Coconut Grove in Boston where 492 persons were killed by fire in 1942 and the Rhythm Club in Nachos, Mississippi, where 207 people lost their lives in 1940.

The postwar year exhibited considerable progress in life safety in buildings.

For the recent decades the record of major loss in building fires turned disturbingly upward, after declining steadily from 1955 to 1969. Most notable during this period was the Beverly Hills Supper Club fire that killed 165 people in 1977 and was the worst loss of life in building fires since Coconut Grove in 1942.

In the most recent period in the record of fatal building fires, a new and alarming phenomenon emerged. This phenomenon involves fires in houses where persons are not prepared to cope with a fire.

TEXT 5

Interview with Chief Fire Officer

Interviewer: I have with me today Chief Fire Officer Williams, who I know is very worried about fires in public places.

Fire Officer: Yes, that's right, John. It seems terrible to me that it's often people who are out to enjoy themselves are killed by fires.

Interviewer: You're talking about fires at football grounds, cinemas, theatres, places, like that?

Fire Officer: Well, yes, that's right... Do you remember in 1983 in February during carnival week, sixty-four people were killed in a cinema fire in Turin in Italy. Then there was that terrible fire at Bradford City football ground...

Interviewer: And you're also worried, I suppose, about dance halls and discos.

Fire Officer: Oh, certainly, yes. There have been some tragic fires in those sorts of places... There was that awful fire at a disco in France... at St. Laurent du Pont. Over a hundred and forty people died in that one.

Interviewer: Yes, these really are tragedies. But how did they happen? How can we stop these things?

Fire Officer: Well, where you find a tragedy of this soft you usually find that there wasn't enough firefighting equipment, or that doors and windows were locked.

Interviewer: Why do people lock the doors and windows?

Fire Officer: Well, they want to stop the dancers or the cinema- goers getting in without paying. The trouble is, of course, that if there is a fire, people can't get out.

Interviewer: Well, Mr. Williams, have you got any advice to give people they go out for an evening?

Fire Officer: Well, yes. My advice is to think about fire risk and keep your eyes open. When you go to a disco, or a cinema, or the theatre, check everything around first of all.

TEXT 6

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