The Portland daily press., 1866-10-15

Monday Morning, October Is, 1866.
The Increasing Frcqueney or Fires.
PORTLAND.


day half the business part OF Wiscasset was
laid in ashes Tuesday afternoon the Airing
ton mills in Lawrence were burned, THU SHAY
morning there was destructive fire in San
Francisco, and Thursday evening, IN spite Of
the rain, another III Philadelphia. Within
less than week, we were called upon TO re-
cord six CONGREGATIONS and the destruction of
property valued at nearly 100000. What is
the meaning of all this waste?
There is no doubt in the first place, that the
construction of our houses is inexcusably
faulty Man is the only animal endowed with
reason, we are told; it is a pity that he will
not use that excellent faculty more literally.
We have finder boxes to live in; we pack
them together street upon street; we leave
them all to the mercy of the masons and car
penters who build them, and are satisfied with
the report. defective chimney" after they
burn down, as if these words stood for some
inscrutable decree of Divine Providence and
not for human improvidence and imbecility.
That it is the business of every owner of build
ing, and of the community, in self protection,
to see that the heating apparatus is entirely
safe, is self-evident proposition. Such how
ever is the reckless nature of the human ami
NAL, that this precaution is almost universal
ly neglected 1t is therefore cheaper ic the
end to provide for the carelessness of our neigh
bors by putting up fireproof buildings in all
places of any considerable size. Our city has
done well to take charge of this matter and
insist that no more wooden buildings shall be
erected within the city limits without special
license. 1t is step in the right direction
Whether the temporary inconvenience which
would be occasioned by requiring every new
building TO be made fire proof, would not be
more than balanced in the end, is another
question which will bear consideration.
To proceed however, having got our houses
So arranged that confagration sooner or
later is almost ineyitable.we commit the whole
business of subduing fires to an insufficient
number OF men, poorly pald, composing what
we call a fire department. This is not exact
ly the time to talk about water supply for
Portland, and yet one cannot help remarking
in passing that we ought at least to furnish
our tiremen with water, at the earliest possible
moment. We ought also to strengthen the
department, and we ought to pay chief
engineer not only for the work he does but
for what he knows After having found
man of the right stamp, man prompt, cool
and ready, We ought to require him 10 know
all that is to be learned from the practice of
other cities, about means and methods of sub
DUNG fire, and to suggest such improvements
here as might occur to him. He should give
his whole time to that business, and be paid
for the whole OF his Time In Constantine
pie for instance, the fire department is fur
nished exclusively with portable engines, 30
small that man can carry one with tolerable
ease. Anybody can see that hundred OF
these little engines scattered through the
town OH the nignt of the 4th of
July, would have been OF mcalculable
benefit in checking the confagration.
The Third Parish church, for example, caught
from spark, on the roof A bucketof water
would have saved it and everything beyond it.
But the bucket could not he used without a
Ladder, and the ladder was not forthcoming
portable engine would have extinguished
that spark, and hundred Of them would cost
less than one steamer. One OF the questions
which ought TO be considered and decided
professionally is whether some combination
OF this Oriental method of dealing with fires
with our present method would not be better
than either. Bat we cannot expect profea-
sional opinion that will be worth anything
upon this or any other point, without paying
for it, a5 a.. ic,,e,. I.,-s.-r,.-...
% I'VE have said nothing hitherto of incendia-
rism. lit is quite possible that the crime of
arson is becoming more common. The fire
on Congress street on Tuesday night was un-
doubleday the work of burglars, ana the
swarm of thieves who lowered around,
were not much better than the actual incen-
diaries. There is no way to guard against
this crime, except by increasing the police
force. If the streets were thoroughly patrol-
ed at all hours of the day and night, the dam
ger from this source would be much dinlin-
Il ished ,es f5G4a.. F-f rf E|
Fire proof buildings are expensive. If the
fire department is TO be made more efficient, it
must be better paid More policemen will cost
more mopey. All this is perfectly true. But
the millions which were destroyed by fire in
one night last summer would have paid these
expenses for a long time. A single police
man on Commercial street at the moment
when that pile Of shavings was ignited
would have saved US those millions ii Insur-
ance, it must be remembered, only divides our
losses among many. In 1866, capital to the
amount OF over iorty-three millions OF dol
lars, laboriOusly ACQUIRED by our countrymen
was destro, ed by fire. The losses in 1866
were calculated just after the fire here, at
s44,2S6,000, and will double the figures for
1865 before the 31st December. As reasona-
bic beings, it becomes us in some way to do
our part to put stop to this enormous drain
upon the revenues of the country.