The Charleston daily news. [volume] (Charleston, S.C.) 1865-1873, 1870-06-16
THE FIRE .DEPARTMENT.
Report of the Chief Engineer
Expenses of the observation-disclosures by
FIre-Insurance-An Parad e
Suggestions, Sc.

We are Indebted to Mr.. N. H. Nathan, th'
efficient chief of the Fire Department, for
copy of his annual report to the Board of Fire
masters, showing hScondition of the depart
ment for the year ending April 9th, 1870
From this report we gather the following
statements:
THE REDUCTION OF PAY
of the fire companies by the City Council is the
first subject treated of by the chief, who re
cites that the burden Of paying the expenses
incident to the maintenance of steam fire
department, necessarily great, were never in
tended TO fall on the individual companies
"On the contrary, two years ago, when the
the advantages of the system had been fully
tested and approved, the city allowed to each
steamer $4,000, to each hand engine $500, and
to each truck company $1,000 per annum, to the
end that the members themselves should not be
called upon to perform all the labor and bear
| all the cost. Recently, however, the City
Council have thought proper to reduce these
amounts, and it is left to the several companies
themselves to meet the obligations that may
be incurred or contract Indebtedness" The
chief is s'sure that no company organization
requires larger appropriation than is neces-
sary to meet actual expenses; yet, after the
payment of engineers and fremen, paying for
oils, repairs, and other incidentals, absolutely
nothing will be left for the purchase of hose,
of which in short time nearly every company
will be in want. Similar remarks will apply
to the hand engine companies, whose pay has
been reduced to $500 per annum, and to the
trucks, whose pay has been reduced to $780,.
He, however, sis confident the City Council
10 not desire to see any Of these valuable Or
CARNATIONS involved in debt" and believes
that .swhen the facts are made known to that
body, they will be induced to review their late
action and copcede that appropriation which
will relieve the department from its diff
Guilty."
The chief, after asserting that the members
of the department compose benevolent in
stitution, freely giving their labor and time to
the community in which they live, and only
asking that they shall be protected and sue
cored in this unselfsh work, proceeds to
speak of
THE EXPENSES OF THE DEPARTMENT,
which sin the last year amounted to s37, ,2s6 2s,
being in excess ofthe expenses of the year end
ing April 9th. 1859, s6775 20. 1t is unneces-
sary,n says the chief, -"to enter into detail Of
the canse of this increase. The expenses of
the next year, according to the new bill passed
by the City Council in February last, will be
s30 600. No department, either paid or volun-
teer, in the United States, containing twenty
one companies, is kept up at so small an out
lay as ours. Paid departments, with four
steamers, cost more money than our own; and
the best statistics can be produced to show
that paid department, consisting of FIVE
steamers, would cost the City of Charleston at
least 100000 to organize it alone, while the
yearly expenses incidental thereto would not
be less than s4O, 900. With the present scarcity
of water, such change would expose the
property of our taxpayers 10 the mercy of the
element"
FIRES AND INSURANCE.
Since the last report, says the chief "there
have been twenty-one fires and fourteen
alarms and attempts to set fire, involving
loss of property amounting to slss,oas. The
amount or Insurance effected on the property
so endangered was $3.50, 900. The amount of
losses paid by our insurance agencies and our
one home office is s93,47O. showing a loss of
real estate and merchandise over Insurance
paid of s42, ,62s. The losses paid this year by
Insurance are less than the last year by s37,
$40. The total amount of losses are also $780,
1876 less this year, whilst the excess of loss
over insurance is $73l4 over those OF the last
year. The largest fire was at the store OF
Nessrs. 81. Klatte q Co. The headway of this
fire was due to the large quantity of liquor In
the store, andit burned so rapidly that all ef-
forts to save the stock were Of no avail. Much
of the stock Of Mr.. Wolhtmann's, in the ad-
Joining store, could have been saved had
there been any one authorized to remove It,
This stock was insured In New York"
INVESTIGATION OF FIRES, &C.
The chief states that he has made careful
investigations to ascertain the cause of each
fire which has occurred, land, whilst there
has been strong circumstantial evidence in
several cases, no positive proof could be ad-
duced to convict parties" He, however, us
convinced that several fires have been set by
parties directly Interested" As regards the
tidal drains, he says they have been used In
most cases where the fires have been in prox-
imlsy to them. The keeper, so far Us he could
Judge, 'shas attended carefully to his charge"
The engine houses are, the chief says, In need OF
repairs, and although Council ordered them to
be made, the work has not been commenced.
The house of ''the Palmetto Company Is In d
dangerous condition, and should be fixed at
once. The Young America and Pioneer Com
panies are still renting very poor places at
large prices. Buildings should be erected for
these companies, as their property is valuable
and require dry houses. The houses occupied
by several of the colored companies also need
repairs The city Is now paying rent for four
companies, amounting to near $500 per an
num-"
NEW COMPANIES, &C.
"The United, Union Star and Promptitude,
colored companies, have been admitted into
the department by the city authorities" since
the last report. ''The Hope, Stonewall and Ger
man companies have, in place Of their hand
engines. procured steamers ofpowerful ability,
from the Amoskeag mandatory, of Manches-
ter, N. H., so that there are now eleven steam
oro t,vo hook and ladder trucks and one hand