Wichita daily eagle. [volume] (Wichita, Kan.) 1884-1886, 1886-05-12
THE ORIGIN OF FIRES.
rweNrY-seveN CAUSES OF coNFLA-
CITATIONS NOW RECOGNIZED.

Ineendiarism at the Top Of the List
Defective Rlues and Bed Construction
Tho Sins Spontaneous Combustion
Has Had to Answer for.
In speaking Of tbs origin Of fires, d..
Nichols states that present investigations
show that the number OF fires attributed to
iucendiarism Is much Len than Is generally
supposed Spontaneous combustion is an
other cause which has heretofore been
brought forward on . great many Coon
sions. when the real trouble has been In
defective or careless construction While
dwelling houses in tho United States are
burning at the rate Of one every hour, and
mills, hotels, stores and barns are van
ishing in proportion, it is worth
the consideration Of every householder
to know whether his own prem
ises are inviting destruction from fire, or
whether thsy are reasonably secure from
the ruin brought by that element In the
fire tables Of 1884, incendiarism is placed at
the top Of list Of some twenty seven
causes
Next in this fatal list comes defective
fiues. but it is questionable whether they
have been given the rank they deserve
N.
of the complete carelessness in this direction
that the handsome residence Of q neighbor
got on fire thres times within ono month,
and that on each occasion the narrowly es-
caped destruction was directly traceable to
detective construction In the first instance,
fire was due to wood placed in connection
with a steam boiler, and in the other two
cases was caused by joists or beams brought
in contact with chimneys when the house
was built In these cases sufficient heat
reached the timbers to cause ignition.
FIRE TRAPS CAREFULLY CONCEALED.
There are many buildings In all parts OF
the country to-day where . little hotter fire
than usual in furnace or crate will do just
the same thing Every householder should
assure himself that no such danger menaces
his own home or warehouse Continued
contact Of wood with hot brickwork or
heated currents Of air will eventually cause
combustion There is but ono remedy, and
that Is to remove the conditions II build
ing Is already erected, and these fire traps
carefully concealed, ir Is difficult matter
to get at the source Of danger and see that
it is removed, but the difficulty is much less
than that Of starting anew wien fire has
carried OF the household goods or destroyed
the plant" of q well established industry.
But while spontaneous combustion, being
impersonal and therefore without the abil-
ity for defense, has had q great many sins
laid to its door by builders whose volubility
exceeded their carefulness, this peculiar pro-
cess Of slow oxidation has still q heavy
account against il in the list Of fire losses
In ono instance, recalled by tho same
writer, dwelling house caught fire by the
spontaneous ignition Of sawdust placed be-
tween kitchen floors as q sound deadener.
The sawdust alone was safe enough, but
when it became saturated with oil from the
polishing of the floor above, new conditions
prevailed The sawdust heated rapidly
from the absorption Of oxygen by the oil
The temperature speedily arose to such q
point that ignition occurred, and flame
burst through into the room
KEEP THIS EXPERIENCE IN MIND.
For many years the conditions favorable
to spontaneous combustion were 50 imper-
fectly known that no precautions were
taken to avoid them Now, however, they
have been 80 well illustrated, together with
the large possibilities Of Effectiveness in
fiues and chimneys, by a very complete list
Of catastrophes, that an intelligent builder
by which we mean not only the man who
builds a house, but the man who has it
built as well-must keep this experience in
mind, and see that none Of these fatal con-
ditions is repeated in his own structure
With twenty -seven recognized causes OF
FIRE, and any number besides, not classified,
there are not few otherwise careful per-
sons who despair Of the value Of precau-
TONS and trust the whole matter to fate and
q heavy insurance The wisdom Of pro-
viding funds necessary for rebuilding is
certainly commendable; but aside from any
economic reasons why valuables should not
be permitted to 10 thus quietly consumed,
those who have gone through the ordeal OF .
fire, at either home or place OF business,
know that there are many things for the
loss of which insurance is but q poor COM
pensation. Scientific American