Take Note!
A Crawford Educational Services publication
July 2010:
"Do I Smell Smoke?"
Smoke alarms were not around when the British set fire to the White House during the War of 1812. Construction of the nation's Presidential residence began in 1792, and with the exception of its gutting and reconstruction during President Truman's Administration, it has undergone very little change. However, there were plots against it during the Civil War, and it sustained a fire in the West Wing in 1929.
Other serious fire threats to the White House have occurred. For example, the building next door, now known as the Eisenhower Executive Office Building, has caught fire twice. The first incident occurred on September 25, 1909, when a fire in the furnace room shot up a flue and ignited the roof of the White House. Another fire in the Executive Office Building occurred December 19, 2007. Occasionally things get very hot in government.
Rarely a month passes without a report of a fire destroying some historic home or building. For example, in November 2008, fire destroyed a historic railroad roundhouse built in 1929 in White River Junction, Vermont. It had been used by the Central Vermont Railway until 1950 to repair steam locomotives, and was being used by several businesses when the $4 million fire occurred. In July 2009, a suspicious fire in Lewiston, Maine, destroyed a 60,000 square-foot mill built in 1850.
Historic buildings and homes have a greater risk of arson because they are often located in deteriorating neighborhoods, or their owners fear the expensive repair and preservation costs associated with being placed on the registry of historic places. Historic structures also have a greater risk of fires due to old electrical wiring. Plus, century old buildings often pose special hazards for firefighters as the structures are usually made of wood and may have unusual hallway patterns due to renovations.
Evaluating damage to historic homes, buildings and other structures requires top property adjusting skills, as does the detection of potential insurance fraud. These are some of the skills taught at Crawford Educational Services, which offers classroom training as well as online claims education. Check out our class line up today!
