PART I. TOPICS. FIRE PREVENTION. Actual statistics given state the fire losses in this country and Canada for 1913, compiled to the middle of December, amount to nearly $207,000,000 as compared with $216,000,000 in 1912, $229,000,000 in 1911, $222,000,000 in 1910. These figures, while stupendous in their proportions, furnish extremely interesting study to the careful observer of fire prevention. Taking into consideration the added cost of prevention, the figures soar into hundreds of millions of dollars. If you intend to adhere strictly to fire prevention you must observe: First.- Physical improvement of fire hazard in the community. Second. Moral improvement of fire hazard in the community. (The first item covers the definition of the widest limit, with a mandatory requirement well defined, for all new buildings.) Third. The improvement and protection of old buildings. Fourth. A forced and compulsory correction, to a reasonable extent, of all buildings now dangerous; this having been accomplished with an expansive idea, the strictest regulation should be given to the more congested areas corresponding to the increase of the fire hazard. You will remember "that all fires are of the same size at the start." It was said by a man in the building at the time of the fire in the capitol at Albany, the financial loss of which was about $6,000,000, to say nothing of the loss of documents and priceless records, "When this fire started it could have been put out with a pail or two of water. We searched in vain for anything to serve the purpose. The night watchman ran down stairs to sound the alarm. He found none in the building, and in the meantime. |