FIRE DRILLS.

1. HOMES FOR CHILDREN, INDUSTRIAL SCHOOLS, REFORMATORIES

AND OTHER INSTITUTIONS WITH ACTIVE INMATES.

The kind of drill recommended for homes for children is that required by chapter 201, Laws of 1901, entitled "An act providing for fire drills in the schools of this state." Under the provisions of that act the principal of every public or private school in the State having more than 100 pupils is required to instruct and train the pupils in his school so that they may be able to leave the building in the shortest possible time without confusion or panic. The children in homes should in like manner be practiced in rapid dismissal exercises, using both the interior stairways and the outside escapes. The caretakers and other employees should be assigned to certain stations in connection with this drill and carefully instructed as to their duties in emergencies. The caretakers of the children under five years of age should be most carefully instructed and drilled in the best method for removing their charges from the building promptly.

The following is an outline of plan for the organization of a fire drill similar to that practiced in a number of homes in this State:

ORGANIZATION.

1. The superintendent, or in his absence the matron, head teacher, or engineer in this order to be in chief command and to have direction of the drill as a whole.

2. The head officer of each department of the home to be responsible for his department to the superintendent or his substitute and to be in command of that department.

3. Each caretaker and teacher to be in command of and responsible for the children in his dormitory or class room (under the head officer of his department).

4. The children in each dormitory or class room to be organized into squads of ten, one of the older children (captain) being in charge of each squad.

A plan of organization for such a drill may be shown graphically as follows:

Captain Captain Captain Captain

10

10

10

10

10

10

10

Captain Captain Captain Captain Captain Captain Captain Captain Captain Captain 10 girls girls girls girls girls girls girls girls girls boys boys boys

10

10

10

10

10

10

boys boys

PRACTICE.

At a given signal (fire alarm) the children in each school room or dormitory form in squads under the direction of the teacher or caretaker, and march out into the corridors where they take their proper places in the formation composed of the entire population on that floor of the building. The entire company then marches in regular order and without delay or confusion down the stairs and out of the building, following a similar company made up of the children from the floor below. The company of children from the first floor should march out first, followed by the company from the second floor and so on through the building. If the building has more than one exit the companies may be formed accordingly so as to secure more rapid dismissal.

The outside fire escapes as well as the interior stairways should be used as means for egress during these drills, so that the children may become accustomed to them and be able to leave the building by any means of exit without confusion or panic in case the interior stairway should be cut off by fire or smoke.

All employees should be instructed in the use of the extinguishers and other fire-fighting apparatus as a part of the fire drill and certain of them, other than the teachers and caretakers if possible, assigned to particular duties in connection with the use of this apparatus, when an alarm is given.

Where infants and small children are in the institution the drill should include practice in the speedy removal of these children by the caretakers, nurses and other employees assigned to this duty.

2. HOSPITALS, HOMES FOR THE AGED AND OTHER INSTITUTIONS

WITH HELPLESS INMATES.

In these institutions the removal of patients in the event of fire is more difficult and laborious than in those cases where the inmates are active persons. Many of the patients must be carried out bodily, some of them on mattresses or stretchers, and without delay or injury. Accordingly the fire drill cannot be actively participated in by the patients but must consist in the practice of movements looking to the rapid removal of patients by the nurses, orderlies and employees. For medical reasons it

is often not advisable to actually remove the patients from the ward during the drill, but this fact does not affect materially either the need for or the value of such a drill.

The employment of a competent expert for a brief period sufficient to instruct and train the staff of employees, as has been done in some of the larger public hospitals in New York City, is recommended by the board, where possible.

The drill should include the following matters:

1. Instruction of the staff of employees in the use of the firefighting apparatus, and practice in the same.

2. The organization of the staff for the purposes of this drill and the assignment of the resident physicians, nurses, and employees to particular positions and duties in connection with the work of removing the patients; these positions to be taken immediately upon the signal (alarm) being given.

3. Instruction and practice in the handling and carrying of stretchers and other work having to do with the removal of patients.

Weekly or fortnightly practice of these drills is necessary to secure and retain their effectiveness.

STATUTES AND RULES RELATING TO CORPORATIONS. The written approval of the State Board of Charities is neces

1. For the incorporation of any institution for the purpose of receiving, boarding or keeping any nursing children, or any children under the age of twelve years, not pupils or wards.

(Subdivision 5, § 482 of the Penal Law.)

2. For the extension of the purposes of a membership corporation, if the care of orphan, pauper or destitute children be included.

(Chapter 40, Laws of 1909, Article 2, section 4.)

3. For the incorporation of any membership corporation mentioned in section 41 of Article 3 of the Membership Corporations Law, chapter 40 of the Laws of 1909, and of hospital corporations.

4. The State Board of Charities shall approve or disapprove the organization and incorporation of all institutions of a charitable, eleemosynary, correctional or reformatory character, which are or shall be subject to the supervision and inspection of the board. (Art. 2, sec. 9, subd. 4, chap. 57, Laws of 1909.)

SUBMISSION OF CERTIFICATES FOR APPROVAL.

The rules of the State Board of Charities to be observed in submitting certificates of incorporation for its approval are as follows:

1. Each certificate shall state the law under which it is proposed to incorporate.

2. Such certificate shall be executed in duplicate and presented in due form, duly executed and acknowledged by the proper persons before competent officers, as the special law may direct, and without erasures or interlineations; and should contain in full every statement directed by the statute.

3. A copy of such certificate (in addition to the two original certificates) shall also be furnished for filing with the State Board of Charities.

4. In applications for the incorporation of hospitals and dispensaries the proposed location must be definitely stated.

5. If acknowledged or executed before a notary public or commissioner of deeds, the certificate of the county clerk of the county in which the acknowledgments were taken that the said notary public or commissioner of deeds is duly authorized to receive acknowledgments must be attached to the certificate of incorporation.

6. The name and address of the attorney representing the petitioners should be on the cover of the certificate.

BY-LAWS OF THE BOARD.

(As amended to June 1, 1902.)

I. ON THE MEETINGS OF THE BOARD.

1. Stated meetings of the Board shall be held on the second Wednesday in January, April, July and October, and unless otherwise ordered by the Board, at 3 o'clock p. m.