NFPA Journal - Spring 2022 - 88

Looking Back
FIRE INCIDENTS AND
OTHER NOTABLE EVENTS
FROM SAFETY HISTORY
concluded. " It is absurd to
expect that a building which
is built partly of fire-resisting
materials and partly of combustible
materials and filled
with combustible contents
will not be materially injured
both as to structure and contents
when subjected to high
temperatures. "
The rapid fire spread was
caused in part by industrial
chemicals and waste that
were present in almost all of
the buildings involved in the
fire. This included barrels of
varnish and alcohol, wood
and metal dust, gasoline,
COSTLY
REMINDER
100 YEARS LATER: A CHICAGO
BLAZE UNDERSCORES THE FALLACY
OF A 'FIREPROOF BUILDING'
By Angelo Verzoni
W
hen the citizens of Chicago
rebuilt vast swaths of their city
following the Great Chicago Fire of
1871, they swapped wood for brick
and other noncombustible materials.
Newspapers at the time lauded this new wave
of construction as " fireproof. "
Fifty years later, the city was reminded of the
sobering truth. On March 15, 1922, flames rapidly
tore through more than a dozen buildings alongside
the south branch of the Chicago River, causing
an estimated $2.3 million in losses-over $38 million
in today's money-and two deaths.
The Chicago Board of Underwriters published a
report on the incident two months later. " There is
no such thing as a fireproof building, " the report
88 | NFPA JOURNAL * SPRING 2022
and other hazardous, combustible materials. " Floors were oil-soaked,
premises were congested and heavily loaded, and there were many tenants
using gasoline, making wood-working refuse, and having use for
cleaning rags and waste, " the report found. The authors also speculated
that the fire may have been sparked by the spontaneous combustion of
oil-soaked rags in one of the properties.
According to the University of Illinois Library, 80 percent of the Chicago
Fire Department's personnel responded to the incident, fighting the
fire for about four hours with 51 engine companies, six hook-and-ladder
companies, seven squad companies, and two fireboats. As firefighters
battled the flames, Chief Chicago Fire Marshal Thomas O'Connor reportedly
remarked it was the worst blaze the city had seen since the citywide
1871 fire. One firefighter died at the scene; another was struck in the
head by a piece of falling masonry and died later at a hospital.
The Chicago Board of Underwriters included in its report several
recommendations for the city to protect against future large-scale
incidents in the wake of the March 1922 conflagration. The recommendations
primarily focused on making exterior openings like doors
and windows more fire-resistant to prevent building-to-building fire
spread, as well as decluttering and compartmentalizing interior spaces
to prevent fire spread within the same building. " The idea must be, " the
report said, " to bar out exposing fires and prevent lapping of interior
fire from floor to floor. "
THE NFPA LIBRARY AND ARCHIVE holds a rich collection of books, reports, and photographs
that document important moments in fire history. To provide better electronic access for researchers
and to preserve our unique archival holdings, work has begun to digitize the files of the Fire
Record Department, the original NFPA department responsible for collecting and analyzing information
and compiling statistics about key fires and other events. The incidents featured in " Looking
Back " are drawn from this collection and will eventually be part of NFPA's online archive. For information,
visit nfpa.org/library.
CHICAGO BOARD OF UNDERWRITERS

http://www.nfpa.org/library

NFPA Journal - Spring 2022

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of NFPA Journal - Spring 2022