The Ottawa free trader., 1875-12-04
HOME MATTERS.
Fire,

Brown, corner Of Clinton and Superior street ~
rhe fire was first seen near the plancr In thw
hop and on account Of the highly infammabl
material in the building, burned very rapidi.i
rhc steamer City of Ottawa was promptly oo@
he ground, ami set on the canal bank on Clihto' !
,treet, but as the water had been drawn from u
.anal, she had to be moved, and was taken acroi
he "cut" oia the foundry bridge, and set oeio !
he lock- All this took time--most valuaofi
ime considering the nature OF the materlk
)urning-and all that could be done finally -
o extinguish the emhers of the factory, ana ,
he two houses belonging to Mrs Coyle-one e
he east and one on the south Of the factor %
that had burned with it. The factory was total =,
lestroyed; the two dwelling houses were RUNE
though part of the walls are still standing q h
King & Browns loss is $1,000 or $4,000 wi SC
no insurance eRs
Mrs. Coye's loss, in buildings, about $50 =,
furniture, 500. Mrs Coyle, using but porti as
of the house, had packed the best of her poss y ~
sions in an upstairs corner room, and saved no ~
Ing. Mr.. Meyers, using the rest Of the hou 4 ii,
saved most of his furniture. Mrs. c. had but
tie sh insurance. ,rn' >, ,,. ,.. :, ,,.. ., 5re'
ncendiarsm, SSo
Upon the whole, it was narrow escape Ana
this town. Suppose, under such conditions t Otu
the high wind of Sunday night had been bl. S,o,
ing, then nothing could have saved large T. Sbl,
lion of our city; and as 1t was, it was remarka : T,n
and highly creditable TO our fire departms n IN
that they succeeded so well in suppressng ,bt
flames. re
In this connection few remarks about ii ll n
and some figures in that connection may not 1p
out of place. The figures were procured throt stoy
the kindness of DR.. j. 0. Harris and will pr'I
interesting to our readers no doubt. nllls
The first set is for the mos, ending Nov q
1875 w6G
Aggregate losses in T. S. & Canadas S5S 7S3, %
Aggregate losses to Ins. Cos........ 3O372,
Losses for Oct. 1875 alone: obO
Aggregate losses Sl2953, ~
Aggregate Losses to Ins. Cos ......... 1922, y,
These tour lines certainly suggestive e h
last two especially so, as being the record of ie
beginning of the fire j is startling VIII il
we collect these figures of the losses by da tn
fires. We see them in the papers, and pass thf ~ n
over as insignificant. Add to these the fires 'b
sea, r. r. and steamship accidents, and al,s
amount of wealth lost in this way is enormo ms
By fires alone the L. $. has lost during the i n
four or five years more than enough to pay .b
whole national debt and have money in II
treasury. And what has been the cause of -ss
In most cases it is undoubtedly sheer careelY
ness or lack of foresight j.,
For example, examine the character of sol MI
of the October fircs-the buildings burned: $,
Hotels, 80! machine shops, 1G; planning mil =.
l0 restaurants, 3d. saw mills. 16; livery stabl, O
l3 public halls s; drug stores, IS; churches, L,
court houses, TO- etc, etc-fres reported by tlis
Insurance companies only. o.,
Surely in most cases these fires might hal !.
been prevented by carefuluess in looking aft1,i
fires in and about the buildings. cs
The saying may not be elegant, but is no let,s;
foreible," If you don't look after your bad chiryH
neys, you must not say that it was dispcnsatidss
of Providence that your house is burned" Motfs
so.called "dspensations Of Providence" ar, :,
from carlessness, but of course none feels liz y
eliminating himself he piles the blame G
others. fm
The fact is, writer said in the Inerndtioh, iii
Heuie,o some time ago, "our insurance system sIo
to blame for many OF our flres-indirecty M
course. Not only do insurance companies iss Or
policies thoughtlessly to men who will dclib,tl c
ately give false returns of the property or sto n
to get large insurance for the purpose OF burnt TX
il, but insurance itself has a tendency TO ma ;;n
men careless" They think, 1--WE well IN,
sured," and that is the end of watchfulness. u
many times have we heard the remark concer p
ing some old church or public building, "Wey i
she's we'll insured, and it wouldn't matter muevh
if she did burn; besides, never can get anot,.]
er, till we get rid Of this one some way. FeGl
ing this way no precaution is taken to preyents
fire, and on the coldest day. wher hot fire q
needed to keep the place warm, bad fue i'm
frail chimney, defective heat conductor, buryli
the building, and may be dozen others with 4 p
We have nothing to say about insurance COZ 10
panies but they should be more watchfu, nslo
only for their own benefit, but for the good ,bl
the people generally. The French law that ill,
lows no man in whose house fire breaks out al r
collect insurance may be arbitrary, but it c1
tainly has healthy effect in that country. ar
Another cause of such destructive Amercsb l.,
fires is inefficient fire departments in our lar IN
cities. 1t is said that in London it is quite col N
mon to see the fremeR at work on fire (uqh
hand engines) IN one house while next door t 10
ladies OF the house may be found talking IA,
sewing as unconcerned as though there was h,
fire within ten miles OF them. 1t is true, TIE
European system of building is more perfe1n IN
than ours, but 80 too is their system Of exit RI
gushing fires. In our own city our fire depaldd
ment is in the very best condition-has goo h,
active head; good set Of subordinates; plen 4r
Of the hest material for working successful 7
but-and here is the rub-but We rant ecatey. ],
is monstrous that in city like Ottawa, with I, i,
rivers, the canal and side.cut and between t,cer
and thirty drtesian ,oellS, house should bur
down for want Of water. 10
This is a matter that should be attended to t.s
onee-while yet there is time. This fire of TuGb
day morning has shown cOnclusirely that tid
canal cannot be relied upon; and even if it cousd n
there are many places in the Sd and lst wal IL,
where the water of the canal and side-cut colar
M. ba mead Tbora should bn rpspryol Ill