Abstract
MANY of the subjects covered in a lecture delivered to the Royal Society of Arts by Colonel G. Symonds, fire adviser to the Home Office, are of more than general interest. After discussing questions of organization and the need for adequate fire–fighting parties to take immediate action, Colonel Symonds dealt with the ‘protective levels’ required for resisting penetration by a 1 kgm. incendiary bomb. The figures he gave were: reinforced concrete 2½ in. thick; steel plate 3/16 in. thick; a paving–stone 2 in. thick with a well–tamped standard sand–bag also gives adequate protection. As regards internal protection, floors can be made fireresisting with 2 in. of sand, 2½ in. of brick rubble passing through in. mesh, or with material conforming to BSS/ARP 27. Less certain protection, but enough to enable a fire party arriving within five or six minutes to cope with the bomb, before floor boards started to burn, would be provided by BSS/ARP 47. Structural timber should be treated with a flame–resisting material. Communicated fire can be stopped by 2½ inch jets supplied with 1,200 gallons of water a minute. Where an 80–ft. space is unobtainable as a fire break, windows facing a lesser gap should be bricked up, or failing this, protected with wired–glass and fire–resisting shutters. An unperforated 14–in. brick party wall with good mortar carried 10 ft. above floor–level on the line of the break will often stand up well to a ‘near miss’.
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Fire Prevention in War–time. Nature 148, 192 (1941). https://doi.org/10.1038/148192d0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/148192d0