INCREASE IN FIRES.

Evening Post, Volume LXXVII, Issue 59, 11 March 1909, Page 8

INCREASE IN FIRES.

IN NEW ZEALAND. WELLINGTON'S LAEGE SHARE. CARELESSNESS AND IRRESPONSIBILITY, j Ngauruhoe is said to be " smoking furiously " ; the volcano is doing something to sustain New Zealand's reputation for fires. Last year the people of this country lost £500,000 in property destroyed by flames ; this month is not , half through, but the bill for goods that have been wasted by fire approaches £52,000, which works out at about £5000 a day. Captain Hugo blames over-in-surance for this huge destruction of assets. His theory is that people, believing that they are well protected in the event of a fire, are apt to grow careless. WELLINGTON'S RECORD. Wellington sets the pace for Now Zealand in fire-raising. For the eleven months that ended with last February the brigade was called out 227 times for the following causes: — False alarms , 34 Rubbish and grass fires ... 24Chimney fires . ..7 ... 28 | "Actual fires" ... ... 141 In the case of the actual fires the damage is given as " trifling " for 64 of them, "slight" for 38, "considerable" for 26, and ''totally destroyed" for 13. A glance backward shows that the fire brigade is getting more and more to do as tho city grows older. The following figures are interesting : — 1904-5 05-6 06-7 1908 Total calls 134 174 157 230 Chimneys 19 24 20 22 Rubbish and grass... 23 12 13 46 False alarm ... 26 40 26 34 Actual fires ... 66 98 98 128 The actual fires have steadily increased, and the chimney flares are as frequent as ever. THE DIRTY CHIMNEY. Only trifling fines, a matter of 5s or 7s 6d', are usually imposed on careless individuals who allow their chimneys to get into a dangerous condition, finally requiring a call from tho brigade. These pereons, who seem loth to constitute themselves sweeps once or twice a year, or decline to call in a member of the sweeping fraternity, expose themselves and their neighbours to the risk of' an unpleasant housewarming. 'Moreover, long before the overload of soot takes fire, the users of the offensive chimney make themselves a thorough nuisanco in their neighbourhood, for their stack? pour out showers of smut which, foul the washing on many a lino, and is wafted through windows that are opened to catch fresh air. 'Moreover, while the brigade is rushing to one ond of the town at the call of a blazing chimney, an alarm may be given for a serious fire at the other end. It has been urged that the occupier of a house with a chimney responsible for a call from the brigade- should be made to pay all the expenses of the turn-out. It is submitted that the frequency of chimney fires makes it imperative that memorable penalties should be inflicted. THE INNER AREA. The corporation's 'by-laws attempt in a small way to keep down the fire risk, but their chief object is to make the structures etrong enough to resist an earthquake and a blustering gale rather than to make them proof against fim Most of the business places in the centre of the city have their windows exposed for the inrush of fire, at all times of the day and night. If a fire takes possession of one building, the flames are usually at liberty to break: through, the windows of, adjacent premises. Some time ago Superintendent Hugo, in an article in The Post, drew attention to this deficiency of safeguards for the prevention of a conflagration. 'It is argued that the insurance companies themselves might induce improvements by differentiating more than they now do between the people who take care to protect their premises and those who expend nothing in making their windows fire-proof. AMERICA ALARMED. From reports of United States consuls it has been shown that the loss in six European countries for a period of five years was 33 cents (about Is 3d)' per capita a year. The loss in the United States for the five years ending with 1907 was three dollars two cents (about 13s) per capita. The- result in foreign cities gave a per capita loss of 61 cents, as against three dollars ten cents in the five years' average of 252 cities in the United States. Taking the number of fires to each 1000 of population in the same cities, the average is 4.05 in thg American cities, against 0.86 for those of Europe. A little multiplication shows that xVmerica runs 243 fires per year to 60,000 of city population against Jiurope's 51 and Wellington's 128. These estimates were given recently at a meeting of the American Commission for the Conservation of National Resources. "It is to be borne in mind," said the president, Mr. Damon, "that the direct fire loss is not the only waste of resources, for owing to the greater frequency of fires in the United States and their greater destructiveness, more e:cpensive fire-extinguishing facilities and apparatus must be. maintained." Moreover, 7000 lives have been lost by firo in tho United States in a single year. THE CAUSES. The causes of the immense difference between the proportion of fires in Europe and America are given thus :—: — (1) The difference in point of view and responsibility of inhabitants. (2) The difference in the construction of buildings. (3) The difference in the regulations governing hazards (including the, matter of over-insurance), and hazardous materials. In a portion of Europe the landlord is responsible to his tenant and the neighbours for any loss due to tho laudlord's neglect, and tho tenant is responsible to the landlord and neighbours for any loss due to the tenant's negligence or carelessness. In Europe, a pei son who has a fire is regarded in a distinctly unfriendly light, as a person' .dangerous to his neighbours' property and comfort. "FIRES MAKE WORK." "People appear to have a very erroneous idea of firo insurance," said Mr. Damon, "and think that insurance payments re-create destroyed values, wnereas the fact is that insurance companies are in a sense tax collectors and distributors of these taxes among those suffering by fire. The difference in the idea of thrift, in the view of responsibility to neighbours, in the perception of the real meaning of fire loss, is the cause of the great number of fires per capita in the United States, and perhaps of the larger loss per capita." It is maintained that similar arguments can be justifiably applied to New Zealand, to explain the abnormal number of fires he r e. UNDERWRITERS VIGILANT. The Fire Underwriters' Board of America is expending much energy and money on the creation 'of an improved "fire conscience" among the people. It has officers who make a systematic inspection of water services and fire brigade equipment ; it distributes large quantities of helpful literature; and it. has a fund of over a million dollars (nearly £250,000) for the rewarding of persons who give- information that will assist in the -conviv^iori of incendiaries.