FIRES SET IN HOTEL SHOW SPRINKLER SYSTEM'S CAPABILITY

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP86-00244R000200540004-2
• Release Decision: RIFPUB
• Original Classification: K
• Document Page Count: 1
• Document Creation Date: December 9, 2016
• Document Release Date: April 26, 1999
• Sequence Number: 4
• Content Type: MAGAZINE

ires set in hotel show Ann Air Tur WORLD
sprlnkleAbWW@ f lblse 2000/09/14: CIA-RDP86-80244R000200540004-2
A dozen fires intentionally set last week
in two rooms of a 175-room hotel in
Tucson demonstrated with success a
new automatic fire sprinkler system
that the hotel management is installing
as part of renovation of the structure
(ENR 8/12 p. 16). "The sprinklers did a
tremendous job in controlling the fire.
In five to 10 seconds after the system
was activated by the heat, the fires were
out," said Tucson chief of fire preven-
tion R.B. Slagel.
The hotel, the Pioneer International,
was the scene of 1970's worst hotel fire,
which left 28 guests dead. In making a'
comparison, Slagel added, "A guest
may have gotten uncomfortably
warm-even received first-degree burns
before the fire was put out-but unlike
the tragic fire of last year, the fire
would have been confined to one
room."
Four types of fires were started in the
sealed rooms: a bed fire that developed
slowly; a drapery, sofa and furniture
fire; a closet fire; and a pile of wood set
in the middle of the room. Two sprin-
klers shot a 17.5-ft-radius spray with a
flow of 30 gpm.
Called the Life Safety System, its in-
stallation cost was unofficially esti-
mated at $200,000. Hotel management
estimated that if the fires were real,
damage would have amounted to $500.
Bricks of crushed glass
meet building specifications
A New Jersey research firm has pro-
duced building bricks, made from
ground-up, nonreturnable glass bottles,
that it says exceed the American
Society for Testing and Materials
(ASTM) specifications for minimum re-
quirements for water absorption and
compressive strength.
To make the bricks, Tekology Corp.,
Palisades Park, used a process in which
the crushed glass is combined with ce-
ment, chemicals and water and then
formed under high pressure. Fifty
Steel house for glass plant-PPG In-
dustries, Inc., Pittsburgh, is building a
$50-million float glass plant that will
produce 200 million sq ft of plate glass
a year. The new plant, a pre-engineered
steel building covering 1 million sq ft,
will be manufactured and erected in
Mount Holly, Pa.,insixmonthsbyArmco
Steel Corp., Middletown, Ohio.
Moving quickly-New York state acted
to condemn nearly 9,000 acres to en-
large Stewart Airport, about 65 miles
north of New York City, more than six-
fold the day after a federal district
court refused to issue a temporary in-
junction sought by neighboring towns
and community groups. A hearing is
still to be held, however, and the
county has entered suit in state court
claiming the taking is illegal. Generally,
the plaintiffs object that there is no
master plan and local citizens and offi-
cials have not been involved in the
proposal to develop a major jetport, op-
erated by the state's Metropolitan
Transportation Authority.
New town program leader-Housing
and Urban Development (HUD) Secre-
tary George Romney last week revealed
that HUD assistant secretary Samuel
Jackson was the White House choice
for general manager of the new Com-
munity Development Corp., which will
administer a subsidy program for new
town developers (ENR 3/4 p.9). Jack-
son, whose nomination is still subject to
confirmation, would remain an assist-
ant secretary but draw just one salary.
First Darien Gap project-The Pa-
nama Ministry of Public Works an-
nounced last week that 16 Panamanian
and American companies are biddin'
on construction of the first section of
the 250-mile Darien Gap, including a,
bridge over the Bayano River. All ce-
ment will come from Cemento Pa-
nama, S.A., and all structural steel will
be provided by a U.S. manufacturer.
Offshore powerplant division-The
Westinghouse Electric Corp., Pitts-
burgh, has announced the formation of
a new division to develop the concept
of platform-mounted nuclear poww?-
erplants for offshore locations. As
presently conceived, Westinghouse
alone or in partnership would design.
build, test, and deliver the plant.
Chinese finance African port-China
will provide a $20-million long-term
loan for construction of a deep water
port at Nouakchout, Mauritania, esti-
mated to cost up to $60 million. Algeria
is financing a $1-million feasibility
study and the World Bank will lend
over $2 million for a deep water wharf,
jetty and two transit sheds.
Famous market to move-London's
Covent Garden, a fruit, vegetable and
flower market, will move to a new S60-
million home in late 1973. The new
market, covering a total of 70 acres, will
consist of a 66,000-sq-ft flower market
with a plastic roof supported by a tubes-
lar steel frame, a reinforced concrete
vegetable market and twin reinforced
concrete office towers.
Studded tires study-The Highway Re-
search Board and Cornell Aeronautical
Laboratory have undertaken a
$100,000 study on the safety value of
studded tires and the incidence of acci-
dents caused by pavement wear result-
ing from their use. Utah will bast
studded tires beginning April, 1972.
Schools graded F-San Francisco's
Board of Education has ordered the
closing of five more of the city's public
elementary schools and the gymna-
siums and main buildings of two high
schools after a structural engineer
found that the buildings would be ex-
Bubbles for the Indians-Four-in.-thick
polyurethane foam houses shaped like
bubbles with 882 sq ft of floor space
and costing $9,200 may soon become a
reality if an experimental project spon-
sored by the Ontario provincial govern-
ment is successful. Two prototypes will
soon be constructed on the Gibson In-
dian Reservation near Bala in northern
Ontario for year-round living.
bricks in white and five other colors Japan builds in West Java Japan will
have been distributed for inspection to furnish $79 million worth of hardware
members of the Glass Container Manu- and knowhow to develop the Djitiba-
facturers Institute, which awarded the rang oil field in West Java. Two Japa-
research contract to Tekology. nese companies, Nippon Steel Corp.
Says James Ryan, Tekology presi- and Nigata Engineering Co., will do
dent, "Our aim was to meet the severe the construction work, which includes a
weather standards, which we surpassed, 12-mile land-sited pi cline and a 9-mile earth ya s "6?kr~1 the board
set by ASTMA prgj4v ' tor' Ibe>1imSee1 tQOi(Je4i4e:ciAeR 6t -02 V1 W; 3% - use of sirni-
tremely dangerous in the event of an
glass house, is now something that can age area on shore with floating buoys.' lar structural flaws (ENR 4/29 p. 15).
be realistically achieved."