"Mike Homes" wrote in message
news:4f2ee6bc$0$1583$c3e8da3
stuff snipped
Not necessarily a matter of right or wrong, sometimes politics enter the
picture. You install wiring according to the rules imposed by the
municipality that has jurisdiction. In areas like Chicago, the work is
more labor intensive, having to use conduit. This may put more money in
the pocket of the installer. It also may be that those in power feel it
is safer to be in conduit.
Shouldn't the municipalities be forced to follow the NEC?
The conduit requirement in cities like NYC and Chicago is based on the close
proximity of houses and the potential seriousness of even a single house
fire breaking out in a row of connected homes. The entire city of Chicago
caught fire once, and that memory has "stuck." Conduit and armored cable
have a much lower chance of being accidentally damaged than NM sheathed
wiring. Officials of large cities, especially those with old buildings and
aging wiring systems, are very, VERY paranoid about anything that could
start a fire. That comes from experience fighting rowhouse fires in high
winds where dozens of homes can catch fire from embers carried on the wind.
Reading through
http://www.nyc.gov/html/fdny/html/firecode/faq.shtml
gives you a good idea of how paranoid they are about potential ignition
sources. No fire pits, no tar kettles for roofers, no smoking at
construction sites and tons more. City officials have good reason to be
worried about fire spreading. There are plenty of historical precedents.
I've read in several places that if Tokyo suffers a massive earthquake, even
with all the precautions the Japanese have put in place, the city will
likely burn down. That's because of the number of densely packed old wooden
buildings and the likelihood that water mains would break and firetrucks
would be unable to reach many parts of the city. Fukashima was a love tap
from Mother Nature. If that epicenter had been near Tokyo, the world's
economy would have been imperiled since it's one of the world's most
important cities. Same is true of NYC, Los Angeles, Chicago, London and a
few other cities.
1866—Portland, Maine Independence Day Fire, commercial district destroyed;
10,000 homeless
1871—Great Chicago Fire, destroyed the downtown on October 8
1871—Peshtigo, Wisconsin Fire, several towns destroyed in a firestorm,
1500-2500 dead, same day as Chicago Fire
1871—Port Huron Fire of 1871 killed over 200 people in Port Huron, Michigan
on October 8.
1872—Great Boston Fire of 1872, destroyed 776 buildings and killed at least
20 people.
1877—Saint John, New Brunswick Fire destroyed 1600 buildings
1878—The Great Fire of Hong Kong, destroyed 350 to 400 buildings across more
than 10 acres (40,000 m2) of central Hong Kong.
1879—1879 Hakodate fire, Hakodate, Hokkaido, Japan, 67 fatalities, 20,000
homeless.[10]
1883—Ocala, Florida Thanksgiving Day Fire A devastating fire occurs in the
downtown business district. The Ocala House, Palace Hotel, Ocala Banner and
ten stores are destroyed
1886—Great Vancouver Fire, Vancouver, British Columbia, 1886.
1889—Great Seattle Fire
1889—Great Bakersfield Fire of 1889—destroyed 196 buildings and killed 1
person.
1889—The First Great Lynn Conflagration. About 100 buildings destroyed,
costing over $160 million in damage in today's dollars.
1894—Great Fire in Shanghai; over 1,000 buildings are destroyed
1897—Great Windsor Fire, Windsor, Nova Scotia Canada, destroyed 80% of the
town
1898—Great Fire of New Westminster, British Columbia
1900—Sandon, British Columbia, Canada, destroyed by fire
1901—Great Fire of 1901, Jacksonville, Florida
1904—Great Baltimore Fire
1904—Second Great Fire of Toronto
1904—Ålesund Fire
1906—San Francisco earthquake and fire
1911—Oscoda/AuSable, Michigan
1908—First Great Chelsea Fire on April 12. Nearly half the city of Chelsea,
Massachusetts was destroyed.
1914—Great Salem Fire of 1914
1916—Matheson Fire, Matheson, Ontario
1917—The Halifax Explosion, largest man-made explosion before the atomic
bomb
1917—Great Atlanta fire of 1917, during which over 300 acres (1.2 km²) (73
blocks) destroyed
1917—Great Thessaloniki Fire of 1917, Thessaloniki, Greece
1917—Gyöngyös, Hungary fire in which a number of buildings were destroyed
leaving around 8,000 homeless
1921—Tulsa Race Riot, 35 city blocks; 1,256 residences were destroyed by
arson
1922—The Great Fire of Smyrna, Izmir, Turkey
1922—The Great Fire of 1922 in the Timiskaming District, Ontario, Canada,
killed 43 people and burnt down 18 townships.
1923—1923 Tokyo fire following the Great Kanto earthquake.[12]
1931—Half of downtown Lillooet, British Columbia, Canada, is destroyed by
fire
1934—1934 Hakodate fire, Hakodate, Hokkaido, Japan, killed 2,166.
1938—1938 Changsha Fire, 56,000 buildings burned by the Chinese army during
the Second Sino-Japanese War to prevent the Japanese from getting resources
from the city, 3,000 civilians killed on November 13.
1939—Great Lagunillas Fire at Ciudad Ojeda, Venezuela on November 14.
1947—Texas City Disaster, two ships explode, igniting chemical works,
460–600 killed
1948—Fukui earthquake with fire, 46,000 buildings and houses lost on June 28
1949—A fire burning for 18 hours in Chongqing's waterfront and banking
district, on September 2, killed 2865 people[13] and left more than 100,000
homeless. 7000 buildings were destroyed.[14]
1951—Tung Tau fire, fire in a squatter area in Hong Kong, up to 25,000
homeless, led to the Comfort Mission riot
1953—Shek Kip Mei fire, fire in a squatter area in Hong Kong, 58,000
homeless[15]
1961—Bukit Ho Swee Fire, flames erupt in a squatter settlement in Singapore,
making 16,000 homeless
1961—Bel Air fire, burned 6,090 acres (24.6 km2) and destroyed 484 homes
near UCLA in Los Angeles[16]
1964—The Bellflower Street Conflagaration fire destroyed nineteen apartment
buildings and damaged eleven in square-block conflagration in Boston
1973—Second Great Chelsea Fire on October 14. 18 city blocks destroyed:
several businesses (mostly rag shops) and homes of one, two, and three story
wood frame and metal clad construction.
1974—Chelsea, Massachusetts on May 24. A fire at the American Barrel Company
spread to several other businesses in a two block area.
1981—Arson fire in Lynn, Massachusetts levels downtown factory area under
redevelopment; no conviction; $80 million damage estimate [17]
1983—North Division Street explosion in Buffalo, New York kills 5
firefighters and 2 others and destroys millions in property.
1985—Isabela Island forest fire, Galápagos Island, Ecuador, 62,500 acres
(253 km2) lost on March.
1985—Osage Ave./MOVE Incident, Philadelphia, 65 houses destroyed.
1985—Annanar forest fire, Portugal, 1,500 km² destroyed, killing 14.
1986—Chu Ku Tsai village fire, Hong Kong, 2,000 homeless on Lunar New Year
holiday.[15]
1986—Aberdeen Typhoon Shelter fire, Aberdeen, Hong Kong, 150 vessels
destroyed, 1,700 homeless and 2 injured on December 25[15]
1988—Great Lashio Fire, Lashio, Myanmar, killed 134, 2000 buildings
destroyed.
1988—A fire in Lisbon, Portugal destroyed 7 blocks of houses (7,500 m²) on
August 25
1991—Kuwaiti oil fires following the Persian Gulf War
1991—Oakland Hills firestorm kills 25 and destroys 3469 homes and apartments
1991—Great Meiktila fire, 5,900 buildings and houses burned and kills
thirty-one, Meiktila, central Myanmar on April 7.[citation needed]
1993—A Tsunami hit with fire at Okushiri Island, Japan by 1993 quake, 645
houses lost, 202 killed on July.
2002—Lagos armoury explosion causes fire which destroys half of Lagos and
killed 1,100 people
2003—Canberra bushfires fire that killed 4 and destroyed over 500 homes
2008—Camden Market Fire, which caused severe damage to one of North London's
most famous shopping districts.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_fires
--
Bobby G.