Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1889-08-21

The technical Journal, Fire and Water, he
compiled some interesting statistics shown,
what amount Of protection from are Is enjoyed
in each Of the states and territories. Thu
District Of Columbia, where the inquiry wa,
limited to the city of Washington, il given
population Of $50 900, with steam nre-enginos
shook-and-ladder trucks, 10 hose-carriages, 4s
horses, q, 900 feet of hose and 10l men attached
70 the fire department. Our apparatus and
buildings are valued at &192, 900. We have one
electric alarm system, with 160 boxes; 179 miles
Of water pipe and les hydrants. The difficulty
In comparing the statistics of the District with
those Of any Of the states and territories rests In
the fact that everywhere else there are from
twelve to four hundred places included in .
group; and, the greater the number Of places,
the greater the proportionate supply Of de-
lenses, since each place requires repetition
Of good deal Of the plant and an extra num-
Der Of men as reserves. This viii be obvious
from the figures Of the two states Of Colorado
and Rhode Island, which come nearest in pop
ulation for present purposes to the District.
In Colorado, where reports are obtained from
sc places 252,3 people have seven steamers
and one other style of engine-s total the same
- ours; but they have eight times a. many
hook and ladder trucks as We, almost seven
times a. many hose carriages, more
than three times az many feet Of
hose, and . force that outnumbers ours
twenty-five to one. In Rhode Island, where
tventy-three places report 261, $50 population,
there are forty-one engines of ell kinds, twen-
ty-ons hook and ladder trucks, and sixty-four
hose carriages The number Of trucks and
carriages falls trife below Colorado's, owing
to the smaller number of places 10 be supplied,
and hence the possibility of making smaller
outfit 80 further. The proportion Of fremen
to places in the two states is well preserved.
Rhode Island, with half the number Of pla ,es
reporting, has half as many men in her several
companies. The interest Of these figures
lies in their application to our District Rhode
Islands needs more closely approach ours than
Colorado's do, owing to her denser population.
Taking Rhode Islands i, 101 fremen, and divid-
ing them between her 23 towns, We find an
average of about 50 men to q town; and taking
the aggregate population Of the same towns
and dividing in the same way, we get an aver
age of about II, S91 souls to each town. As this
average population is to the average supply of
6remen, 80 is the $500 population attributed
to Washington to the number of fremen whose
services are needed here on the Rhode Island
scale; and this number, about twenty times a.
many as We have now, would be borne out by
similar deduction from Colorado's figures also.
disparity in some other conditions than
those suggested reduces considerably the pro-
portionate number of fremen necessary to pro-
tect the District. But after all allowances have
been made, the figures indicate clearly that the
capital is far from being a spendthrift in its
expenditures for protection from fire, and sug-
gest that with the growth Of the city in popu-
lstion and extent of dense settlement care
must be taken to see that the resources of the
ire department in men and apparatus are cor
respondingly increased.