Fire Protection As in safety and health, contractors' responsibility for fire prevention has been emphasized. Except at Los Alamos, fire prevention forces are employed by the contractors. It has not been practical for the contractors to employ fire protection engineers as no one installation is large enough to warrant full time service. SFO now provides fire protection engineering coveragefor all its installations and many of its supplier contractors where there is a large AEC investment much in the same manner as major industrial fire insurance companies provide such coverage for their assureds. In the years 1947 to 1950, the need for the services of experienced fire protection engineers was realized and initial steps were taken to develop a practical and comprehensive fire protection engineering program. Prior to fiscal year 1951, the fire protection engineering work was largely confined to review of construction plans to insure proper compliance with established fire protection codes and standards, and occasional review of physical conditions at facilities which were known to be substandard. Subsequently the problems encountered in achieving a degree of fire protection commensurate with importance and value have been numerous due to the severe combustibility of many of the older structures housing important operations, and a lack of built-in fire protection. The problems have been further intensified by the necessity for isolation of many facilities and the diversity of special hazards and materials, many of which are peculiar to SFO and AEC. A formal inspection procedure has been standardized and a program placed in effective operation for the coverage of all important SFO direct and contract activities by annual or semi-annual fire protection engineering surveys. The frequency of visits is determined by the importance of a facility to the over-all mission of SFO. The engineers inspect each property and its protective equipmentand fire protection organization thoroughly, evaluate the quality and adequacy of the property's over-all fire protection and submit to management a written report of their findings and recommendations. Progress of the inspection program is shown on the chart "Industrial Fire Protection Surveys." It has been estimated that "Improved Risk" fire insurance companies expend about $1.00 for fire protection engineering services for each $10, 000 of insured property. Expenditures by SFOOforfire protection engineering services approximated $0.72 per $10, 000 of AEC-owned property in 1952, and is being further reduced in calendar year 1953. Santa Fe Operations Office and its contractors expended $652,691 in 1951 and $866, 416 in 1952 for industrial fire department wages, equipment usage and travel. When expressed in terms of dollars spent for services per million dollars of AEC property eval- Meee cll .- uation, these costs are equivalent to $2,109 for 1951 and $1, 765 for 1952. The net cost per million dollars of AEC property evaluation was reduced in 1952 by 12 per cent. tional reduction is anticipated for the year 1953. An addi- Considerable improvement has been accomplished during the past three years in fire protection at SFO facilities. This has resulted from compliance with recommendations made in survey reports. The construction of new and replacementfacilities, in which ade- quate fire protection has been incorporated, also has been a major factor. Several older ‘locations need additional improvement to approximate "Improved Risk" status. Delay in improvement of these locations is due to lack of funds or to plans for relocating the occupying projects to new and permanent facilities. all . ) amet | lee e