STB-JA80
F I R E !
This Bulletin was written by , Senior Grand Warden of the Grand
Lodge F.A.A.M. of the District of Columbia. A
retired Deputy Chief of the D.C. Fire Department
R.W. Bro. Stein brings 39 years of firefighting
experience on a subject too many of us tend to
ignore. We thank Brother Stein for accepting the
challenge to write this ShorT Talk Bulletin.
Fire! Man's best friend -- man's worst
enemy.
When controlled, fire warms man, cooks his
food, and if out camping, protects him from
carnivorous animals.
However, when out of control, fires have
burned millions of dollars worth of homes,
buildings and woodlands.
What causes these disasters? A carelessly
discarded lighted match, cigarette or cigar, in
wooded areas, hot smoking materials including
pipes laid upon chairs, sofas or beds in buildings; faulty electrical wiring; spontaneous combustion containers, and, of course,--arson.
What, you may ask, do these things have to
do with Freemasonry?
Just this, Brethren--if you have ever sus-
tained the loss of a Lodge Hall, meeting room,
building or valuable property through fire, then
you should be interested.
In Washington, D.C. in 1963, Potomac
Lodge No. 5 lost the entire contents of their
building and almost lost the building itself by
fire. Likewise in Aberdeen, Maryland and in
Murphy, North Carolina, lodge buildings fell
victim to fires that destroyed the entire property
and their valuable contents. More recently, the
Grand Lodge of Ohio, reported two lodges,
Charity No. 530 in Palmyra, lost its building
and contents, while Boggs Lodge No. 292 suffered a damaged floor, rug and some furnishings from a fire that originated under the Altar.
In the case of Charity Lodge No. 530, the cause
was thought to have been defective heating controls, but for the most part, causes of Lodge
fires remain unknown. We could go on and on,
citing cases in almost every Grand Jurisdiction,
and listing hundreds of such instances if space
allowed. These are but a few scattered instances
of Lodges destroyed by fire. The losses in these
few cases ran between $75,000 to well over
$200,000. Some, such as in Ohio, were adequately covered by insurance, others were not.
There is also the danger of a general conflagration which may destroy hundreds of
buildings, including Lodge Halls, such as in
Chicago in 1871 and the more recent Baltimore
fire of 1904. However, in this article, we are
more concerned with the individual lodge and
its own building. In a general conflagration
there is little one can do but hope and pray the
fire does not reach the lodge building, but there
are many things we all can do in the case of the
individual building, to prevent fires from starting, protecting ourselves if such occurs and seeing that we are adequately protected financially
from severe loss.
Our first question is, how safe is your Lodge
hall? Is it safe enough so that you will not have
a fire in the kitchen? . . . In the Lodge Room by
faulty wiring of the Lesser Lights? . . . or in the
Ante Room by a cigar or cigarette carelessly left
on a chair, table, or sofa?
Is the electrical system modern, or ancient?
Are your circuits overloaded by extra lighting
during degree work, or strained by the use of
numerous appliances during a lodge dinner?
When an electrical circuit blows, does some
well-meaning member put a penny behind the
fuse in the fusebox, so that you can continue
your work, or cooking? Does a well-meaning
member dump a glass or pitcher of water on the
small hole that is being burned in the fabric of
the chair, couch or sofa?
These things are done, Brethren, resulting in
over-heating wires that later in the night set fire
to combustible material in the walls or ceiling
through which they run. That chair, couch, or
sofa may burst into flames long after everyone
has left the Lodge Hall, because such a fire, like
a cancer, eats its way down into the soft
material, and though apparently put out at the
time by the water poured upon it, it may eventually eat its way into the open and find the
necessary air to ignite it. The water has merely
blocked the opening with a hard crust and such
items as this should be promptly removed to the
outside, where it will not endanger, or be a
threat to any other property. It should be left
there for at least 24 hours.
There is a fallacy that has been perpetrated
for years that buildings of modern materials,
such as brick, stone, or a combination of both,
are fireproof. Nothing is farther from the truth.
No building is fire-proof. Fire resistant, yes!
But never fire-proof! Even fire resistant buildings are subject to disastrous fires. It is the contents that burn, not the building, although, of
course, under proper conditions such as a
general conflagration, even brick and concrete
will crumble. Every Lodge Hall in the world has
its share of furniture, paintings, rugs, plastics,
even oilbase paint on the walls, that are subject
to combustion once a fire has gained a
headway.
Now let us look at what may be done in
your lodge to ward off such a catastrophe.
Needed first and foremost is a sprinkler sys
tem, something that is on guard day and night,
every day and night of the year. Of course, even
a sprinkler system is subject to human error by
someone turning off the valves for inspection
and forgetting to turn them on again. However,
this practice is rare and wherever sprinkler have
been installed in buildings, and kept operational, none have ever sustained more than a
minimal loss, and then at the point of fire only.
There may be some water damage, but compared to the probable loss of the entire structure, such a loss is infinitesimal and this could
and should be covered by a sufficient amount
of insurance for such eventuality.
These two items, sprinklers and insurance,
are of utmost importance to a lodge or Grand
Lodge, yet whenever brought up in a meeting,
the hue and cry of how much these items cost is
deafening and for the most part are laid aside,
with the feeling "It can't happen to us." Such
frugality can be and is, more costly than we
realize. For the small amount involved to install
sprinklers, the return is tremendous. First,
there will be a definite reduction in the amount
of insurance needed cost-wise, and the feeling
of confidence that your Lodge Hall is safe and
secure from being destroyed by fire.
These two items are well worth the original
cost of the sprinklers. The amount paid out for
insurance to protect your Lodge Hall from
water damage, in case a sprinkler head should
go off and extinguish a fire in its incipient
stage, is also minimal. An outside alarm system
installed as part of the sprinkler system, alerts
the passerby that something is wrong in the
building and a prompt response by the Fire
Department assures the difference between
slight water damage and a probable complete
loss of the entire building by fire. Only too
often have we sat in lodges and even Grand
Lodges, and listened to arguments as to the
proper amount of insurance that should be carried. Never have we heard discussions regarding
the protection of a lodge building before the
fire strikes. The argument is always the same--
the high cost of the insurance and the settling
for the minimum amount and the lesser cost.
Yet, a little foresight would have prevented the
loss of lodge buildings mentioned in the beginning of this talk. Just a few dollars invested in
protection over the years, would have more
than taken care of their loss.
The argument against buying insurance, is
sadly, that the insurance never takes care of the
entire loss. This is true, but compared to a complete loss, which only repays around 80 per-
cent, a sufficient amount of insurance that
repays whatever the water damage is from a
sprinkler, certainly knocks that argument in the
head--or it should.
Have you ever given serious thought to what
might happen to your lodge, if your Lodge
Hall, with all of your equipment, were destroyed? Most lodges do not. Would your
members stay with the lodge and meet somewhere else, probably in less suitable quarters?
Most would, many would not. They would
affiliate with other lodges and the resultant loss
in membership would seriously cut into any
program you offered to raise money to rebuild.
Today, money is "tight" and there are many
Masons just not in a position to come up with
sufficient donations, contributions or assessments, to enable you to rebuild your lodge
building. And these Brethren as mentioned
above, if pushed too hard for funds, would
dimit or be dropped for non-payment of dues,
even though they would probably want to
remain members of the lodge, because the cost
of doing so would be prohibitive.
Now let us turn to the preventive side of the
coin. One item for the prevention of fire is adequate incombustible trash containers equipped
with tight lids. It is strange, but smokers have a
bad habit of tapping live ashes from a cigarette
or cigar, and sometimes even throwing the
lighted cigarette or cigar, into a waste basket or
trash container. In the case of waste baskets,
smoke arising from it will usually alert someone
to the fact there is a fire brewing. In the case of
the trash containers, a tight cover would in
most cases prevent a fire from starting, due to
the lack of oxygen. A fire needs air and the
tight lid assures protection if the lid is properly
placed on the container. In lodges where smoking is permitted, adequate ash stands, with the
flip top permitting the "butt" to fall into the
bottom, should be provided.
Do you have a competent janitor or does
some good Brother volunteer his services in
keeping your lodge trash area and kitchen
cleaned up? There is a distinct danger in allowing grease to accumulate under the hood over
kitchen stoves, and in and around the stoves
themselves. When sufficient grease accumulates, and sufficient heat is applied such as long
preparations for a lodge dinner, then you have
the ingredients for a hot, nasty and dangerous
fire, such as the one in the kitchen of Cornerstone Lodge No. 224 in Takoma Park, Maryland. Luckily, at the head table was seated an
off duty member of the D.C. Fire Department,
who, when notified that the kitchen was on fire,
told the Brother to notify the local Fire Department and then calmly proceeded to the kitchen,
shut the door, and fought the flames under the
stove hood and going up the wall through the
exhaust fan, with wet towels. Luckily also, was
the fact that he practically had the fire extinguished when the Fire Department, much to the
amazement of the dinner guests, began to bring
their equipment through the dining room to the
kitchen. This was an incident where luck prevailed, having a fireman present who understood what to do and who took charge of the
situation. What might have happened if he had
not been there? The excited Brother coming
from the kitchen and crying "Fire?" Several
hundred Brethren trying to get out of the room
through two exits, both of which led up a flight
of stairs to the outside, at the same time. The
danger of panic, that normally kills or injures
more people in such circumstances than the
actual fire?
This fire, like many others, would never
have occurred, had strict attention been given
the periodical cleaning of the stove hood and
exhaust fan. A further protection would have
been an adequate hood sprinkler designed for
that purpose, or a carbon dioxide, or foam
extinguisher, installed on a wall bracket in the
kitchen. It may be well to mention here that
extinguishers can be somewhat dangerous
unless the person using them has been taught to
use them properly. This can be done with little
effort on your part by carefully reading, and
thoroughly understanding, the instructions on
its use. Not when the fire occurs, but when the
extinguishers are installed, and again and again
at frequent periods. In many cases, lodges have
Brethren who are also members of the local fire
department, and who would be only too happy
to assist your lodge in any way possible by
instructing the Brethren or the janitor, in the
use of extinguishers, or by inspecting your
quarters for defective electrical systems, that
could cause you trouble. Then, heed his advice.
It may be the most valuable single item in your
plan against a fire occurring in your building.
Every building of three or more stories,
housing a lodge, should certainly be equipped
with fire escapes, one of which should be readily available to the lodge room itself. An inside
fireproof stairwell is the preferable type, but
one or more on the outside, certainly. These
also, should be examined regularly for rust,
painted, and kept free of ice and snow during
the winter. The pulley through which the cable
runs for the weights, if it is the drop ladder
type, should be examined regularly to make
sure the cable runs free to drop the ladder in
case of emergency.
When the building or lodge room is occupied, there are several precautions that should
be taken such as making sure the building is
properly marked with small signs, but big
enough to draw instant attention, indicating
where exits are located, and exit lights are burning brightly. If you have an elevator, signs stating the elevator is not to be used in case of fire,
should be prominently displayed.
There should also be signs plainly stating
the emergency phone number of the local fire
department, the location of the nearest alarm
box and the nearest fire station. The janitor,
and when occupied, the Tiler of the lodge, or
lodges, should also be thoroughly instructed in
the proper method of calling by phone, or
otherwise alerting the fire department if an
emergency occurs.
Auxiliary lighting systems, not dependent
upon city circuits for electricity, should be a
must in every lodge room, hall and stairway of
every building, in cases of power failure. Emergency auxiliary lights which provide illumina-
tion over a 5,000 square foot area are available
at modest cost. Their use can prevent serious
injury in cases of an emergency.
Should your building have an alarm system,
not connected with the city fire department,
this should be plainly shown by a large card,
stating this fact, that it is for alerting the
occupants of the building only, and does not
call the fire department. This oversight many
times has caused fires of incipient origin to
become full scale conflagrations, just because
someone failed to notify the fire department,
thinking the pulling of the local building alarm
had taken care of this factor.
We often see on television these days, commercials advising us to hold family meetings to
discuss a second "escape plan" whereby we
may leave our home in safety if the regular
exits are blocked. Why not this same discussion
in your lodge officers meetings, or every so
often in open lodge? You may never need it, yet
some day it may save your, and your fellow
members, life.
Masters today are constantly looking
around for programs to fill out their meetings
whenever degree work is not on the agenda.
You want a program? Here is a suggestion. The
second week in October of every year is known
as "Fire Prevention Week." Why not have a
fire prevention program, with the Chief, or
some prominent and knowledgeable member of
the local fire department, whether he be a
Brother or not, as the principal speaker?
In closing, my Brethren, you are strongly
urged to take a new look at your lodge building.
Check over your insurance to be sure you have
adequate insurance coverage against any type
of disaster, especially fire, and if any of the
items as listed in this article are needed, take
prompt action to protect yourself. The old
cliche of "An ounce of prevention is worth a
pound of cure," applies even more today, with
its inflated prices, than when it was first coined
many years ago.
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