Volume I--Number 2
SPRING 1973
Fire Safety Expert Blasts Failures
of Fire Technology
Delivering the Gordon C. Graham
Memorial Lecture, Richard Patton,
President of Patton Fire Protection and
Research, Inc., attacked present solu-
tions to fire safety as no solutions at all.
Historically, the first "solution" was
insurance, according to Patton, which
is clearly a solution to financial prob-
lems, not fire safety problems. The
so-called "fireproof building" was de-
veloped to prevent the spread of fires
in congested urban areas, which would
have been catastrophic to the insurers,
as well as occupants.
The genesis of the sprinkler system,
said Patton, was found in the problem
of factory fires. The value of a factory
lays in its contents, not the structure.
-There4)-re, xi:tot-sprinkler system was in-
vented as a solution to the interior fire
problem, which represented the great-
est potential loss to the insurer.
Thus the two major solutions to the
fire problem were profoundly differ-
ent in results: one affected a limitation
on the size of the loss; the other, the
elimination of the loss.
"If the sprinkler system had been
allowed to develop to its ultimate
capability," said Patton, "it would
have found application in all buildings,
including dwellings, and fire as a seri-
ous threat to human life could all but
have been eliminated."
The reason it was not permitted to
so develop, according to Patton, is
because its greatest benefit lay in
eliminating/reducing insurance losses
in industry, and therefore, the stan-
dards tor sprinkler systems were de-
signed for industrial plants which
made them impractical and economi-
cally unfeasible for protecting ordi-
nary properties.
Returning to the fireproof building,
Patton labeled the concept "a patent
absurdity" to believe that a building
can be constructed in which fire can-
not occur.
"No matter how you build a build-
ing, it is not of very much use until
you fill it with furnishings and con-
tents," continued Patton. "But most
of the furnishings and contents are
combustible, and any fool should real-
ize that when you burn the furnishings
you burn the people." Thus, according
to Patton's view, the fireproof building
is nothing more than an excellent
furnace, with the people INSIDE the
furnace.
"The number one barrier to im-
proved fire safety," said Patton, "are
the regulations that were applied to
the sprinkler system in 1896, and
which exist today. I believe that these
restrictions on fire suppression system
design are directly or indirectly re-
sponsible for more than 200,000 fire
deaths in the United States over the
years, in billions of dollars of fire loss,
and even more billions in excessive
building construction costs."
Patton's solution is simple, and is
aimed at detection and suppression of
internal fires, thus protecting the
people, the contents, and the building
itself. By use of smaller piping sys-
tems, reduced water pressure, im-
proved sprinkler heads, smoke and
heat sensors, and other technological
advances already in existence, even
small properties (e.g., homes, stores,
offices) can be protected from eco-
nomic loss as well as personal injury
and death.
Patton is optimistic that insurers
are thinking more in human terms
today, perhaps due to the liability
implications of our contemporary
"consumer is king" orientation.
"When people are killed in a fire, the
insurance company can end up paying
millions of dollars for wrongful deaths
under the liability portion of the
coverage. Insurers no longer pay only
the property damage and walk away;
they become involved with the multi-
million dollar law suits under the
liability coverage," said Patton.
After a lively questions and answers
period, Patton invited the audience to
write his company for further informa-
tion: Patton Fire Protection and Re-
search, 100 East Alameda Street,
Tucson, Arizona 85701.
Accident Facts
A copy of the 1973 preliminary
condensed edition of ACCIDENT
FACTS is enclosed with this news-
letter. Note the continued rise in the
death tolls for school-age children and
youth (ages 5-14 and 15-24). Remind
yourself now to order your '73 edition
available in July.