LOSS BY FIRE REDUCED

Taranaki Daily News, 18 November 1933, Page 6

LOSS BY FIRE REDUCED

POSITION IN NEW ZEALAND HEAVY FALL FROM LAST YEAR. LOWER VALUES PARTLY CAUSE. INSPECTOR REVIEWS REASONS. (By Wire— Parliamentary Reporter.) Wellington, Last Night. A national loss by fire during 1932 of £867,714, compared with £1,292,094 for the previous year, and an average of £1,332,032 for the previous five years, is disclosed by the annual report of the inspector of fire brigades which was presented to Parliament to-day. As is usual in these reports the estimates are conservative, being obtained by taking the actual payments made by insurance companies and adding a percentage for uninsured loss (12J per cent), which is based on experience in fire board districts over a period of years. , The fire waste for the year is the lowest since 1922 and represents a loss per head of population of 11s sd, compared with an average of 18s Id for the previous five years. “It is very pleasing to note that New Zealand fire waste has for the first time in a number of years fallen well below the figures for other high fire loss countries such as the United States and Canada, the figures for which for 1932 are 13s 5d and 16s 8d respectively,” states the report. “Consideration of the probable causes of this reduction in fire loss will be of interest. In the first place it must be remembered that owing to the drop in the property values due to the depression the insurance companies’ payments in respect of fire loss would in any case be considerably lower, since these payments are made on the basis of the value at the time of the loss and not on the value at the time of insurance. ...... DECREASE IN VALUES. “In commenting on the American losses for the year authorities in both the United States and Canada have drawn attention to this factor and have indicated that losses in these countries, which represent a drop of about 11 per cent on the previous year’s figures, were due in the main to the reduction in values rather than diminution in actual fire waste. The New Zealand figures, which show a reduction of one-third on the previous year, indicate a definite reduction in fire waste, since it is most unlikely that the reduction due to lower property values would exceed 20 per cent. This is confirmed by the fact that despite the inclusion of several additional areas the number of fires in the fire board districts in which more than half the total insurable property is located has fallen from 1345 (average for the three years ending with 1931) to 737 for the year under review, or a reduction of 45 per cent. “From an examination of the figures rotating to the causes of fire it is very clear that the ordinary heating or cooking fireplace is the principal fire .risk existing under New Zealand conditions, and no permanent reduction in Dominion fire loss will be achieved until this fact is fully realised. The hazard is a hydraheaded one, and amongst its many manifestations ar the ignition of clothes being aired in front of the fire, fires caused through sparks thrown out of defective chimneys and hearths, fuel projecting from or placed near a firebox, hot ashes placed in wooden containers, fat or the like boiling over, defective boilers or hot water systems, lighting fires with kerosene, etc. : “UNKNOWN” CAUSES. “Consideration of the reports from police and fire superintendents and fire adjusters leads to the conclusion that the majority of fires which are returned as ‘cause .unknown,* and which constitute over one-third of the total fire loss recorded, are due to some variant of the fireplace hazard. The cause is returned as ‘unknown’ because the fire has destroyed definite evidence, but the circumstances are such as to exclude most other possible clues. “With regard to other causes of fire one can only repeat the list that has been quoted for the past 25 years in these reports, most of them coming under the general heading of human carelessness. Smokers throwing' down lighted matches, cigarettes, etc., smoking in bed, electric irons and simitar equipment left turned on, home dry-cleaning with petrol, sparks from unattended rubbish fires, carelessness with candles and tamps, children playing with fires and matches—all of these are represented this year as in past years, and in much the same proportion. Inspections made during the year show that in very many instances fire alarms, extinguishing and other equipment installed both in public institutions and in private premises have owing to insufficient or unskilled maintenance been permitted to reach a condition where they are no longer effective for their purpose. A series of tests of fire extinguishers, for instance in hotels and - other business premises, showed that 54 per cent failed to operate. In one public institution of seven extinguishers five were unsafe to use and only one was in full working order. Such conditions are most unsatisfactory and tend to cause a false sense of security with respect to fire.’* ■