Fighting Fire with
GOOD DESIGN
by PAUL HANKE
Close to 12,000 Americans lose their
lives each year to fire, along with
300,000 injured. Property loss is in the
billions. A report in the Feb. 15, 1984,
issue of Contractor puts the number at
an average of 25 deaths per day and
states that "the U.S. fire death rate per
capita is the highest in the world."
According to Edward Allen, writing in
How Buildings Work, "Our rate of fire
death is about ten times that of the
average European country," leading
one to conclude, he says, "that the
design of our buildings with respect to
fire safety has not been of a very high
standard."
What can be done