San Antonio daily light. [volume] (San Antonio, Tex.) 1886-1907, 1890-02-27
The Daily Eioht.
THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 81, 1890.
The Fire Defenses of Paris.

The Fire DefsnSeS of Paris,
Engineering News
Mr.. w. L. Boswell who went to tn
Paris exposition of 1889 as dele gat
of the Franklin institute, of Phi ladel
phia, has made report to that bod,
on the fire de lenses of Paris, as com
pared with those of American cities
AS it is somewhat the fashion to ridi
cule the fire appliances of cont nent ia
cities, and they do seem absurd to the
American traveller, Mr.. Boswell's
notes are interesting.
He first considers the necessity fOI
such appliances abroad as we are
familiar with. He finds that in 1885
there were 923 fires In Paris, as COM
pared with 1862 in Philadelphia, and
the gravity of the loss is compared as
follows:
Fire loss in Philadelphia SIPS, l55
Fire loss In Pennsylvania. 5,1G2, 402
Fire loss in United States
Insurance loss. 52,S77 1896
Total loss ................. ll9, 2O9, $50
Fire loss in Paris. ......... 800, 742
The average annual fire loss in the
United States for the past thirteen
years has been 800, 100000.
From an examination of data, Mr.
Boswell finds that in proportion to
pOpu latiOn fires are twice as numer-
Gus in Philadelphia as in Paris, and
four times as destructive; and as this
average holds good for the whole
United States, the same rate of fire.
quency and gravity applies 10 the
whole country.
The writer, in accounting for the
comparative immunity of Paris, as
crlbes this to the substantial charac-
ter of the buildings, the strong parti-
ton walls in buildings, the care spe-
officially taken to prevent fire, and to
the fact that in Paris stores and dwell
ing houses are not so widely separated
as with us. Another advantage in
Paris is the very complete distribu-
ton of fire apparatus, which makes it
practically impossible for fire to con-
tinue any length of time.
Water is used in small quantity at
Paris fire as compared with the floods
we throw upon it. The chief reliance
is in buckets, OF which the fire depart
ment has more than 10000. In 1883
buckets alone were used in extin-
gushing 69S fires out of 923; steam
engines were employed only thirty
seven times. In fact, there are only
u steam fire engines in Paris; where
as, in proportion to the population
and our fire engine distribution, Paris
should have at least 100 steam fire en-
gines.
All parties insured in Paris must
give to the proper authorities, within
fifteen days after the fire, a full &C
count of: ~ Day and hour of fire;
l2) its duration; (3) its cause; a.
means used for extinction; (5) all cir.
cumstances about it: (G) nature and
extent OF loss. In Paris, also, the
landlord is responsible for loss to the |
tenant if it can be proved that the
fire is due to some defect in the con-
structiOn or maintenance of the |
house. But the tenant is also re-
spOnsible to the landlord for any neg
ligence on the tenants part, causing
fire. Then, again, the party on |
whose premises the fire occurs is re-
spOnsible to his neighbOrs on both |
sides for any loss they may incur as a |
consequence of the fire. These regu-
lations are rigidly enforced in Paris,
and as the French insurance covers |
not only ones own property, but also
these additional Liabilities, no SYM
pathy with the insured interferes to |
prevent the course of Justice.