The fire protection of hospitals for the insane / L.H. Prince.

  • Prince, L. H. (Lawrence H.), 1858-
Date:
1891
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: The fire protection of hospitals for the insane / L.H. Prince. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by the Harvey Cushing/John Hay Whitney Medical Library at Yale University, through the Medical Heritage Library. The original may be consulted at the Harvey Cushing/John Hay Whitney Medical Library at Yale University.

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    March 13, 1S91, 10:15 ''■ !«• West wing Tennessee Central Hospital, Nash- ville. Origin—unknown. Loss, $50,000. Eight lives lost. Year. ^^^ °f ^'f^- 1850 28 1857 ' i860 I 1862 4 1872 ^ 12 18S0 * 24 1S81 I 1885 39 1887 8 1890 3 1891 9 Total 24' As hospitals for the insane increase in number and size, the necessity for thorough and systematic fire protection become.s more and more urgent. Simply providing an institu- tion with fire-extinguishing apparatus is not adequate protec- tion as many are inclined to believe. A thorough system of fire protection must include measures for the prevention of fire, a rapid method of reporting fire when it occurs, reliable appli- ances for extinguishing fire, and a body of well-drilled men, ready and willing, at a moment's notice, to battle against it. The system, to be reliable, must be sound in all its parts. A flaw in any part will surely weaken the whole. The fire protection of a hospital should be considered one of the dcparttncnts of the institution, and it ought to receive as careful attention in regard to the details of its management as do other departments. It would be well, for the sake of economy, if for no other reason, for each State to make ample provision, by legal enact- ment, for the protection from fire of its public buildings. It should be required that in the construction, equipment, and management of any public institution certain specified precau- tions shall be taken looking to the prevention of fire; that each