Fire prevention and fire extinction

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[Illustration: Jas. Braidwood]




FIRE PREVENTION

AND

FIRE EXTINCTION.


BY

JAMES BRAIDWOOD,

FIRST SUPERINTENDENT OF THE LONDON FIRE-BRIGADE, AND ASSOCIATE OF
THE INSTITUTION OF CIVIL ENGINEERS.


INCLUDING

FIRE-PROOF STRUCTURES, FIRE-PROOF SAFES, PUBLIC FIRE BRIGADES, PRIVATE
MEANS FOR SUPPRESSING FIRES, FIRE-ENGINES, FIRE ANNIHILATORS,
PORTABLE FIRE-ESCAPES, WATER SUPPLY

WITH ILLUSTRATIONS, MEMOIR, AND PORTRAIT OF THE AUTHOR.


LONDON:
BELL AND DALDY, 186, FLEET STREET.
1866.

[_The right of Translation is reserved._]




CONTENTS.


MEMOIR.
                                                                  PAGE

Introductory, Early Fires, Fire Engines, and Fire Brigades           5

Mr. Braidwood's birth and education                                  7

Great Fire of Edinburgh, and appointment as head of Brigade          8

Award of Silver Medal of Society of Arts, London; publication
of work on Fire Engines                                             11

Formation of London Fire Brigade; appointment as Superintendent     13

Testimonials received upon leaving Edinburgh                        14

London residence and routine of duty                                16

Valuable services of the Royal Society for the Protection of
Life from Fire                                                      17

Statistics of Fires; improvement of Fire Engines                    18

Introduction of ladders, hose reel, and hand pump                   19

Floating Fire Engines, hand worked and steam; Land Steam
Fire Engine                                                         20

Inspection of Government Dockyards and Public Buildings;
establishment of a standard hose coupling                           21

Admitted an Associate of the Institution of Civil Engineers;
award of Telford Medal; endeavours to restrain the erection
of immoderate-sized warehouses                                      22

His opinion as to the inadequacy of London Fire Brigade;
Great Tooley Street Fire                                            23

Death of Mr. Braidwood                                              24

Public funeral                                                      25

Public and private character                                        28

World-wide esteem in which he was held                              30

Poem--A True Hero                                                   32


FIRE PREVENTION, INCLUDING FIREPROOF STRUCTURES--CAUSES OF FIRES.


Inattention in the use of fires and lights                          33

Advantages of a legal inquiry into the cause of Fires               37

Improper construction of buildings                                  37

Acts of Parliament for buildings in London                          39

Results of improper construction of warehouses in Liverpool         41

Arrangements for the safety of the audience in theatres             42

Danger from furnaces and close fires                                43

Danger from pipes conveying products of combustion                  44

Spontaneous ignition; use of gas                                    45

Incendiarism; monomania                                             46


FIREPROOF STRUCTURES.


What is fireproof construction                                      47

Use of cast and wrought-iron                                        49

Mr. Fairbairn's experiments                                         50

Danger to life from use of cast-iron columns                        54

Report on warehouses                                                55

Covering timber with iron                                           56

Fireproof dwelling-houses                                           57

Fireproof safes                                                     58


FIRE EXTINCTION, INCLUDING FIRE BRIGADES, FIRE
ENGINES, AND WATER SUPPLY--FIRE BRIGADES.


Individual exertions for Fire Extinction                            59

Fire Brigades on the Continent of Europe, in England, in America    66

Necessity for the control of arrangements by one individual         67

Proposal for a national system                                      68

Fire Engines at noblemen's and gentlemen's residences               70

Training and discipline of Firemen                                  71

General instructions for Firemen, and for the use of Fire Engines   72

Necessity for the water striking the burning materials              74

Inventions for elevating branch pipes considered                    76


LONDON FIRE BRIGADE.


General description of men and engines