Deadly Myth About Wood Cause of Big Fire Loss

Building code officials and the public seem to have different ideas about what makes a building safe from fire.

The public puts its trust in "fireproof" construction, reasoning that the safest buildings are those that use materials that won't burn.

The official magazine of the lO-state Southern Standard Building Code Congress recently called this idea a "deadly myth" that has "lulled thousands into a false sense of security, resulting in tremendous loss of life and property."

The Southern code, as lvell as most other major standards, rates heavY timber construction ahead of "noncombustible" materials in fire safety.

There are a number of reasons for this, according to Nelson S. Perkins, building standards specialist for the Douglas Fir Plywood Association.

"We finally are beginning to realize," Perkins says, "that fire is seldom the result of construction materials or methods. Most fires start in the content of a building. The modern codes have two goals: Making it Possible for occupants to escaPe a burning building, and employing materials that will retard the progress of a fire to simplify the problem of controlling it."

Kqchino Lumber Sqles ln New Mexico

"We are pleased to announce the establishmenl of the only distribution yard not owned or controlled by a_reiailer or contractor in central New Mexico," states R. E. Gallagher, president of Kachina Lumber Sales Inc., Albuquerque, New Nlexico.

The company having just comPleted construction of two "Tee" sheds with a capacity of half a million board feet, are remodeling their offices to feature hardwood paneling, and are drawing plans for an 1,8000 square foot display room as well as a third shed to be approximately 20x160 feet.

The company is located at 634 Bezemek NW, in the heart of Albuquerque's industrial area, on a tract having 300 feet of railroad siding.

The company coined and registered as a trademark the word "Haf-Pak" to describe the size of the minimum order they will accept-approximately one-half of a regular unit of lumber. They offer "IIaf-Paks" of paperwrapped long length dimension, oak flooring in cardboard boxes, pine and spruce selects and paneling.

IJpon completion of their third shed they plan to stock the largest and most

The slory below hcs been prcpored ond disrribut€d to newspopers by Douglos Fir Plywood Associotion. ll cites qn orticle from SOUTHERN BUltDlNc, published by the Southern Building Code Congress, ritled "l/Vood-A Whipping Boy For Humon Errors." lf you would like onolher weopon in your bottle ogoinst wood's delroclors, reprinls of lhe complete clticle sre ovniloble free. Write DFPA, Tocomq 2, Wosh,

Numerous, well-located exits and protected stairwells and elevator shafts satisfy the first requirement.

The second is met by "fire-durable" materials, as Architect Edwin B. Lancaster calls them in Southern Building Code magazine.

Lancaster's simplest example is a comparison of unprotected wood beams versus unprotected steel. In the public mind, as he points out, it's a clearcut comparison of a material that will burn against one that won't, and therefore rs saref.

But he cites research that shows temperatures commonly reach 1700 degrees inside a burning building, often in a period as short as 10 minutes.

Steel beams affected by much lower temperatures expand enough to cause building walls to collapse outward. At 1200 degrees, steel loses 75 per cent of diversified redwood inventory in New Mexico. A large stock of squares, planks, timbers, and possibly a particle board line. They already are handling pre-finished plywood.

Gallagher, a director of NationalAmerican Wholesale Association and a past Snark of the lJniverse in HooHoo, was a former owner and general sales manager of New l\{exico Timber Co., and has been identified with the National Wood Promotion program from its beginning.

Associated with him is Bernie Doyle, previously with Western Pine Supply, Oakldnd; Duke City Lumber Company. Albuquerque; and most recently sales manager of Nagel Lumber and Timber Company, \Alinslow, Arizona.

Both men are well experienced and widely known in Southwestern lumber circles.

"Business is steadily improving in New N{exico," Gallagher said, "and it is our belief that by offering small units of top quality materials to established retail dealers only, we can perform a long-needed service to the dealers."

He pointed out that the large volume yards can supplement their direct mill shipments by drawing from Kachina's inventory, and that the smaller its strength, at 1700 degrees will collapse of its own weight. As a result, 10 minutes of intense heat may be enough to completely destroy a building supported by steel. yards cart now be in a position to offer their customers stock that previously rvas unavailable to them.

Wood beams, on the other hand, will lrave charred to a depth of only lVz inches after one full hour at 1700 degrees. The charring insulates the remainder of the beam, slowing the fire. Usually this won't be enough loss of bulk to cause a collapse.

Thus. while the sieel won't burn. the building is a total loss. The r'r'ood beams still support the structure, allowing firemen to stop the blaze and often salvage the building.

In Tacoma, Wash., fire raged through the contents of a wood-framed warehouse, keeping firemen out of the building for six hours.

Yet, when the fire was put out, the only wood members that had to be replaced were those supported by metal hangers whose failure had dropped the beams into the fire.

Building code changes that have favored wood have not come at the expense of other materials, according to Perkins.

"This is simply an adjustment that had to be made eventually," he says. "Wood has been the victim of hysteria, caused partly by claims made for 'fireproof' materials. We know more nolv about how to olan for maximum safety.

"The building code official's biggelt job now is to dispel the widely-held myth that causes people to resist'il'ood construction."

The company continues making direct rnill shipments to its customers in l(ansas, Oklahoma and Texas, but greatest emphasis has been placed on launching its new enterprise.

"The two phases, yard sales and direct sales, work well together," Gallagher said, "as quite frequently we are able to put together shipments of local lumber direct from the mill with units out of the yard."

Wholehearted endorsement by manufacturers of such an operation is evident to Gallagher and Doyle. "Each time we tell our story to a manufacturer," Doyle said, ".we meet rvith immediate response. It is our policy to stay with one manufacturer of a product, and we expect him to stay with us. This way we can devote the time and effort to promote his specific product, and gain identity in the minds of the dealers that we are the distributor of that specific product."

A redwood building built in the jungles of Panama by the U.S. Department of Agriculture Bureau of Entomology resisted attacks by 45 species of termites.