We just had a major fire in an historic warehouse building that is under re-builting for commercial and museum use.

Many readers of this site will be working with old buildings that have major amounts of wood structure. Be they stations, depots, roundhouses or whatever, be cereful!

Watch those contractors; better yet require a two hour fire watch after all hot work is completed and have fire insurance written into the construction contract.

Our fire did not kill the project, but it delayed it for 9 months and the fire could have been a lot worse, except for the very fine SFFD.

ted_miles@NPS.gov

Our firm specifically prohibits torch cutting in the specs in the case of wood structure buildings.
Not all architects do, one of our local colleges lost their oldest dorm building (under restoration) to just this cause.... be an educated client. Make sure before the job goes out to bid that this is the case.
Have the water supply piping specified as PVC, NOT copper, as this has to be brazed together. This was th ecause of a major fire in an historic luxury hotel rehab job in California(?) a few years back.
No smoking on site might also make a good deal of sense when dealing with wood floored structures.
Your contractor should have builder's risk insurance, this should be in the specs, and the company issuing th epolicy needs to be checked out as far as rating, A.M. Best Co. does this among others. Have the policy IN HAND and checked before you let the contractor on to the site.
Beware, builder's risk only covers the new work in most cases, so Ted's suggestion about fire insuranc is good advice.
But, no amount of money can ever bring back an old building after it's gone...so best to take all precautions.


rudd@cogdellmendrala.com

> Many readers of this site will be working
> with old buildings that have major amounts
> of wood structure. Be they stations, depots,
> roundhouses or whatever, be cereful!

Also watch out for work on railroad equipment!

In getting a steel caboose ready for a new paint job we had to do some bodywork. The rolled corner had been pushed in and this was cut out to allow for replacement. Not being involved in the project I don't know if this was torch or cutting-wheel work.

Some hours later, during the following evening, one of our volunteers visited the inside work site. Smoke was coming from the wood filler behind the steel. Water was applied and the smoldering fire was put out. The conclusion was that a hot ember from the initial cutting work had dropped down inside and had started the combustion.

No serious damage was done.

Brian Norden

bnorden49@earthlink.net

That reminds me of France's greatest ocean liner, the SS Normadie, which was destroyed by a fire sparked by a cutting torch while under heavy renovation to become a US troop ship during WWII in New York Harbor. The ship was state-of-the art and quite fireproof, but the incident was a comedy of errors involving improper safety measures, piles of kapok life preservers in the cutting area, disconnected fire signaling apparatus, incompatible French/American fire hose couplings, and improper firefighting techniques which loaded the great ship unevenly with water causing her to capsize in the harbor. Fortunately, the loss of life was very small. Sorry to change the subject, but I think we can always learn from past mistakes in related areas. At any rate, it's a fascinating story to anyone with an interest in the great steam powered luxury liners of bygone days.



davew833@yahoo.com