Number and situation of stairways. So many States have decided upon true fire escapes, i. e., some sort of ladder, stair, or tube outside the building itself, that the number and position of inner stairways have received attention in only a few of the remaining States. The law of Texas and the Vermont State Board of Health agree in requiring that in schools of over one story there shall be two stairways as far apart as practicable. Ohio schools of fireproof construction must have at least two stairways located as far apart as possible and continuous from the grade line to the top story. Likewise the basement must have two stairways as far apart as possible, leading up to the grade line. These stairways shall be equipped with standard self-closing fire doors at each floor and surrounded with fireproof walls. Composite buildings are required to have exterior escapes, while fireproof buildings are not. Connecticut and New Jersey make the number of stairways dependent on the number of classrooms. In the former, schools of over seven classrooms, not fireproof, must have fireproof stairs at opposite sides of the building. In the latter, buildings of over four and less than nine classrooms must have two flights of stairs at opposite ends of the building. If there are over eight classrooms, three or more flights must be provided, subject to the approval of the State board of education as to number and location, though one flight shall always be near each end of the building. In New Jersey all stairs of new buildings must be inclosed by fireproof walls and built of incombustible material.

The winding stair.--One of the most common regulations governing stairways has reference to turns, whereas the breadth and number of stairs, and the dimensions of treads, appear to be fraught with so much greater importance. Circular stairs or winding treads are prohibited in New Jersey, Connecticut, and Vermont. All turns must be made by platforms in Indiana, New York, North Dakota, Texas, and Virginia. North Dakota stipulates that a wider step is not a platform, and Texas fixes 4 feet as the minimum width of the platform.

Other stairway regulations.-Indiana, New York, North Dakota, Ohio, and Virginia forbid any door to open upon a stairway unless a platform or landing, at least as wide as the door, intervenes between such a door and the stairs. Indiana, Minnesota, Mississippi, New Jersey, Ohio, Texas, and Vermont require a hand rail on each side of the stairs. There must be an intermediate landing, i. e., a landing between stories, in New Jersey and Texas, while the length of flights is limited in Vermont to 15 and in Ohio and Minnesota to 16 steps. Ohio, Minnesota, and Indiana have also set a mini

1 In composite buildings, however, the basement stairs must be guarded by walls of incombustible material from 6 to 12 inches thick, according to the material used. The basement stairs in all cases are to be of stone, cement, or iron; the areaways around these are to be guarded on both sides by rails.

mum of three risers for a flight, compelling the use of gradients for differences in floor levels that would demand fewer risers. These gradients must not rise over 1 inch in 12. The minimum width of stairs in Indiana is 5 feet; in New Jersey (except cellar stairs) and Vermont, 4 feet; in Ohio, 3 feet 6 inches; in Minnesota 3 feet. Ohio alone has set a maximum width for a single flight, 6 feet. Vermont sets a minimum total width of stairways at 20 inches per 100 pupils. Ohio sets the same figure as for minimum total width of exits in fireproof buildings, 3 feet per 100 pupils for the first 500, thereafter a decreasing ratio. While this appears to be much more liberal than Vermont's 20 inches, it must be remembered that onehalf of the required width in composite buildings is given to inclosed fireproof stairs or fire escapes, the other half to the main-service stairs. All runs of stairs in New Jersey and Ohio are to be of uniform width, uniform rise and tread throughout. In the former State, risers shall not exceed 7. inches, nor treads 12 inches, including the projecting nosings. In the latter the following limits have been set:

Limitations of stair risers and treads in Ohio.

Indiana also stands for a uniform rise and tread, viz, that which Ohio has set for grammar schools. All treads are to be covered with rubber or equally nonslipping surface (Ohio). New Jersey seeks to avoid slipping by specifying that corrugated metal safety treads are to be embedded in concrete stairs. No closet for storage can be placed under any stairs (Indiana, Minnesota, New Jersey, Ohio).

Doors to open outward.―About half the States have dealt in some manner with exits from school buildings. The various statutes and rulings touch in different ways the number of exits, their situation, their size, and especially the swinging of doors, together with other important topics. The following States require that all doors open outward:

Without additional qualification-Colorado, Indiana, Michigan, Minnesota, New York, Vermont.

For buildings over one story-Kansas, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Virginia, Wisconsin (all buildings in cities).

For buildings with more than one room-Florida, Mississippi, North Carolina, North
Dakota.

For buildings with more than two rooms-New Hampshire.
Public school buildings only specified-Florida, Louisiana.
Public and private schools both specified-Kansas.

Outer doors only specified-Florida, North Dakota, Ohio, Pennsylvania (in old buildings).

Outer doors and all others leading thereto-Connecticut, Indiana, Iowa, Louisiana, New Jersey, Oregon, Pennsylvania (in new buildings), Wisconsin.

To affect cities and incorporated towns only-Iowa.

Leading from principal room and building-Nebraska (not retroactive with respect to rural schools).1

If double or storm doors are used in Indiana, the outer ones shall be without fastenings, but held in place by spring hinges.

Louisiana and New Jersey permit expressly the use of swinging doors, but in the latter State they must be provided with plate-glass windows. In Ohio double-acting, sliding, or revolving doors are forbidden. Even those doors that according to law must swing outward shall be so arranged that they shall not in so swinging obstruct any other passageway.

Doors to be unlocked.-With the exceptions noted in parentheses following, these States demand that all doors be unlocked during school hours: Colorado, Connecticut, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas (public and private, if over one story), Michigan, North Dakota, Oregon (exit doors only mentioned), Wisconsin. New York, North Dakota, and Vermont provide that the standing leaf of double doors shall be fastened with movable bolts operated simultaneously at top and bottom by one handle at a convenient height on the inner face of the door. All exit doors in Indiana must be unlockable from within. In New Jersey all exit doors, and in Ohio all doors leading directly to the outside or simply toward the outside, must be incapable of being locked so as to prevent their being opened by turning a knob or pressing a bar or lever from the inside. Rhode Island, while silent regarding exits in ordinary service, provides that all doors or windows leading to fire escapes shall swing outward and be unlocked during school sessions.

Number of exits.-There is more uniformity as to egress from rooms than as to number of outer exits. In Indiana and North Carolina all rooms above the second story must have more than one means of egress. The Massachusetts acts of 1913 say that all rooms containing 10 persons, whether or not above the second story, shall have more than one means of egress. Ohio makes two exits mandatory for each room in buildings of composite construction, one of these to lead to the exterior fire escape or stairs, the other to the corridor. All basement rooms used by pupils shall have an exit aside from the usual means of entrance and egress. In buildings of frame construction there shall be two exits from each room, one of them leading directly to the open with steps to the grade. Kansas requires that above the first story there shall be two exits separate from those for the lower floor, but suitable iron or steel fire escapes

1 This affects practically all rural schools, since the law was enacted in 1877.

may be provided in lieu of these exits. Maine requires only that there shall be two means of egress from each story above the first, while in New Jersey there shall be an exit to the ground for every flight of stairs leading to the first story. Connecticut demands at least one exit at opposite ends of nonfireproof buildings containing over seven classrooms, and a fireproof door at the head of the basement stairs.

Width of exits.-The Colorado law reads that doors must have a width of 5 feet for every 250 persons seated within. North Dakota ignores the number of pupils entirely and compels all schools of over one room hereafter erected to have an exit at least 4 feet 6 inches wide. While the laws of all other States except Ohio make no requirements, the latter State has worked the ground over pretty thoroughly. In the first place exit doors in addition to being level with the floor must not be less than 6 feet 4 inches high and 3 feet wide. The maximum width is 6 feet. The total width of means of egress from fireproof buildings is graduated, since this classification includes the largest structures, in the following manner:

To accommodate not over 500, width of 3 feet per 100 persons.

To accommodate 500-1,000, additional width of 2 feet per 100 additional persons. To accommodate over 1,000, additional width of 1 foot per 100 additional persons. The buildings of composite construction must have exits 3 feet in width per 100 persons accommodated. Frame buildings, being limited to one story, are cared for by two 3-foot exits.

Fire escapes. The decision as to number, location, and character of fire escapes is left more to the discretion of officials than any thing connected with fire protection. Thus far in the discussion it has been mainly a question of the law on stairways, exits, etc. Now it becomes largely a question of technical judgment exercised under law. The local fire officials in Iowa are allowed to determine the number of fire escapes, if more than one is to be erected. In Indiana the local or the State fire officials may determine both the number and the type of escapes, though the more vital questions go to the chief inspector of the State. In Virginia, by State law, the city council in municipalities, elsewhere the county supervisors, decide upon character and design of escapes. The Kentucky law gives full control of fire escapes in cities of over 10,000 to the local fire chief. The Michigan law permits factory inspectors, whenever they see fit, to require schools of over one story to be provided with fire escapes, and to make out specifications for the same. The State fire marshal of Maryland may compel the erection of such means of exit as he judges proper, and the commissioner of labor in Nebraska also has very large powers. The regulation of fire escapes in New Jersey and Vermont is left to central administrative authorities-to the State board of education in the former, and to the State board of health in the latter. Eleven

States rely in part or wholly upon administrative regulations, 13 upon statutory requirements.

Relation to height of building.—The height of the buildings affected is of great consequence. The Maine, Massachusetts, and Maryland laws do not state what height of building is within the statute, and the same is true of the administrative rules of New Jersey and Vermont. The Ohio law requires exterior escapes even from one-story buildings, unless of fireproof construction. One or more escapes for all buildings over one story is the standard in California, Michigan, and North Dakota. Only those over two stories are covered in Idaho, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Kentucky, Missouri, Nebraska, New Hampshire, New York (except New York City), Oklahoma, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, and Wisconsin. The Virginia law applies only to buildings over three stories.

Number of escapes. In the majority of cases the legal number of fire escapes is indefinite. The Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Kentucky, and Wisconsin statutes speak of "one or more," and many other States leave the inquirer in doubt. Scarcely a half dozen have standardized their regulations on this point. Illinois and Missouri schools must have one escape for every 50 persons above the second story. Pennsylvania schools must have two escapes if there are over 100 people above the second story. Oklahoma is more strict, with an escape for every 30 above the second story; Nebraska cuts the number to 25. New Hampshire adopts a different basis, viz, one escape for every 150 feet or fraction thereof that the building measures in length. Rhode Island's law directs that the escape or incombustible stairs be at each end of the building.

Accessibility. The accessibility of fire escapes was to some slight extent discussed under "Exits." This was unavoidable, since some of the laws make no distinction between those exits leading to fire escapes and those used for ordinary purposes. Escapes are usually reached through windows, but in Massachusetts, New Jersey, and New York doors must be used. In New Jersey it is provided that the doors for this purpose must be cut to floor level. The means of access shall be one or more windows at each story in Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, New Hampshire, Oklahoma, and Pennsylvania; two windows at each story in Nebraska; and "at least two" at each story in Wisconsin. North Dakota demands that the escape be accessible from each schoolroom. Idaho, Maine, and Missouri stipulate only that the escape shall be accessible from each story. In the following States the means of access just mentioned apply only above the first story: Indiana, New Hampshire, New York, North Dakota, and Wisconsin. The Michigan law speaks of "landing and balconies at each story above the first," but does not mention their accessibility.

1 See pp. 40 and 41.