The Wichita daily eagle., 1891-10-24
AFTER ALL BIG FIRES.
MEN WHO MAY BE SEEN IN THE
RUINS OF A CONFEDERATION.

Strange Ih1ngs happen That Ord1narl
People Would Never Dream About
The Work That Firemen, Policemen
PatrolInen and Adjusters Do.
After the fire is over, what then? Th'
average citizen sees only heap of smok
ing ruins and thinks that nothing re
mains to be done but to clear them away
and build anew. But to the initiated
the details of the work are manifold
There are four bodies of men actively
concerned with the ruins.
First, the firemen. They distrust the
red dragon. He may be lurking under
any of the heaps of bricks, ready for q
fresh outbreak. So they do what they
call overhauling. They turn over all
the smoking piles and drench the embers
and wet down the neighboring walls
and remain on guard until everything is
cold. Sometimes they have to wait
nearly week, and their work after the
fire is very laborious, as in the Park
place fire, where so many lives were lost.
Three days after the fire was over
there were still fifty iremen at work on
the ruins getting out the bodies and
watching the place to make sure that no
flames would start up again. Many of
these fifty men worked for forty-eight
hours incessantly, with only three hours
! intervals for meals. At the great fire
that destroyed the Havemeyer sugar re-
! fnery it was more than a week before
! the ruins were cold enough to be safe.
Second. the police They protect the
fremen from the crowds of citizens who
come to look on and the property res
| cued from the rabble who come to loot.
| They draw what Is called fire line
about the burning building and keep it
| up after it is burned till the work of the
fremen is done.
Third, tho fire patrol This is pro-
fessional band of property rescuers,
maintained by the insurance companies.
1t was organized forty years ago, and
was then composed entirely Of members
of the volunteer fire department, In
1863 1t was Incorporated under charter
which commissioned it to save lives and
property al fires. In the first place it
really was a patrol, walking about the
streets from 1880 o'clock each evening
TILL 5:30 o'clock next morning looking
for fires Now it is called to fires in the
same way as the regular fire depart
ment. Its men used TO wear the same
uniforms as the tiremen, but there was a
row over that and now they are distin-
guished by red stripes.
THE FIRE PATROL
The men OF the fire patrol go out with
trucks, one truck from each station.
Each truck carries eleven men and axes,
ladders, brooms. shovels. crowbars and
twenty-four immense tarpaulin cover
ings, with which the fire patrol rushes
into a building comparatively safe from
fire, but drenched with water, and covers
up the goods there. The patrolmen
usually work under the fremen. For
instance. if there is a fire on the fourth
floor they are busy on the third floor and
the floors below covering up goods with
the tarpaulins and removing them out of
the way of water.
They also follow the hose lines where
JACSC liE1CS 1Ob OU
fire to stop all leaks in the hose or set
buckets under the leaks or protect goods
from spray They can't tell till the fire
is over whether the property they are
saving is insured or not; therefore they
go ahead without paying any attention
to the question.
The fire patrol follow the fremen and
FIX things up. saving all they can for the
insurance companies and stopping all
unnecessary damage. When the fire.
men and police have gone away the fire
patrol stays with the agents of the own
ers, guarding the goods till the insur-
ance Is settled or the rescued property is
removed to place of safety.
After all is sad and done at the fire
proper, come the insurance adjusters
pokiug about the ruins. This is a small,
high priced body Of shrewd and expert
enced men, whose business is to find out
on behalf Of the insurance companies
how much the loss was. An insurance
adjuster will always tell you that his is
a Judicial function. just as district at
torney always contends that he Is acting
Judlcially. though the prisoner may not
think so The insured seldom agree
with the insurance adjuster. He is sent
on behalf of the insurance companies,
and Is on the watch for fraud.
THE ADJUsTERS' WORK.
The serious work does not usually be-
gin till the ashes are cold. Insurance
4 al. nqt ha
property insured nowadays. The con-
tents of store are constantly changing.
They wait for the insured to make out
his claim in itemlzed form. Then they
call for the books and the vouchers
Maybe all books and vouchers are burn
ed. In that case the memory of the
owner must do its best to supply the de-
Frauds are frequent, and the adjusters
are usually IN business for themselves
not attached 10 any particular company,
but hired by the job, Just like lawyers or
private detectives, They have to keep
their eyes wide open.
In cases hike the Park place fire, where
everything becomes a heap of ruins in an
and no books or papers or ma
terial evidence of any kind is left. the
adjusters have TO depend on careful
scrutiny of the itemiEed claims; but in
of other cases where the fire de- |
partment does its work rapidly the ad- /
justers make most astonishing finds.
After the insurance is settled the !
owner Of the building puts the ruins up
for sale There are a number of con-
tractors in the city who Will buy them /
~, s,,a,,,io.,oD - Narr Work Raco-1ar