The Jersey City news. (Jersey City [N.J.]) 1889-1906, 1899-04-15
as a Horse Hospital, for which purpose
If was erected.

-
HOSE.
of 2ss-inch hose o = 1875 feet Of Inch hose;
750 feet Of %-inc and l4 feet or 5l2-incn
81 the 2lA-ineh 1850 feet is Eureka.
cotton rubber-lined and 1850 feet is
The io4 feet Of s1s-inch is cotton ubber
| lined; all of the 1-inch and the A-inch Is
| rubber.
loo feet Of 1-inch rubber hose. 700 feet Of
| M-inch rubber hose, 104 feet of SH-inch
cotton hose. There is in reserve, in good
hose, $3.50 feet of 214-inch rubber, 125
| feet of 1-inch rubber. There is 200 feet
of 2lA-inch rubber hose, condition uncere
| feet of 21a-inch rubber hose that is use
less.
The hose that is in service is all in good
rhis branch of the service is in the best
condition. There has. been two new sets
of double harness added to the depart
ment during the year. All repairs nave
been promptly attended to by a member
FIRES. ALARMS, ETC.
During the year 430 alarms. were re-
ceived, 263 by the fire alarm telegraph and
1877 were verbal or still alarms. This is
nine less than were received during the
year 1897.
The losses by fire amounted to $205, 637,
l insurance OH property iullIlcQldlcly Cn-
~dangered to s527, $40; Insurance
l. paid on loss 1886, 229. so.
The largest fires the department has
had to contend with occurred In the
months Of March, June. July, October
Or March q. at the Pennsylvania Rail-
road depot, causing a loss of S79.UH:-
On June q, at Colgate & Co.'S 70 to oil
York street, caused a loss of 24,0O0.
street on 5 oHns y b fr assry s5 R6saer' g SIS. G Minth
On October 9. the Eagle Brewing COM
pany, Ninth street, loss S10,213.
On Dec. 20, the buildings on Greene
street, between Bay and Morgan streets,
occupied by Ray & Witheman, and
owned by the Pennsylvania Railroad
The efficiency Of the department is
somewhat impaired because of the old
style fire .hydrants in service In some
s fseir Outlets GIat our prevent vent a suffieienf Supply
of water being obtained therefrom.-
Better facilities should be afforded the
! department for procuring the necessary
water for successfully fighting fire,
otherwise their efforts will to some ex-
tent be thrown away.
FIRE ALARM TELEGRAPH.
During the year no improvements of
| any imDcrtapra have been made in this
branch of the service.
telegraph system has made it as near
| perfect as possible, with the exception
of forty-seven old style boxes, which, II
replaced by new, would greatly improve
During the past year six new fire alarm
boxes have been placed in circuit KNOWN as
| Stations 95, lat, 1854, 165, 25 and 247. Thirty
one poles were erected by the New YORK
and New Jersey Telephone Company for
the use of the department, and new gongs
| have been placed in the houses Of Engine
| Companies Nos. l and 4. Tn fire alarm
telegraph system consists Off 40
Nine hundred an dthirty-one poles. 6S
of No. 9 iron wire, 2%2engines house
gongs, 10 engineers gongs (eight of
| which are private property, 4 bell tower
fire alarm boxes, 2 marble switch boards.
1 testing set, 1 volt metre, ] ammetre, 10
line gaIvanometres, 346 cells of storage
c%ircuint repeater and ~trasmitter (pri-
vate property, line indicator, 1 wagon.
The working of the fire alarm system
could be desired. I monty one instance
did the alarm sound the wrong station,
and that was caused on Dec: ", when
same time, thereby causing some of the
| companies to respond to the wrong sta
ton.
There are inthis Department 66 horses,
| whic hare in excellent condition and fit
to do full dut wherever placed, with
the exception of three thaat are at the
All claims against the Department have
been promptly audited and no obligation
has been incurred in excess Of the
I'LL oPPlO " IN ii1Sct = NNt
The total appropriations by the Board
of Finance were 1929, 624.16, moneys re-
ceived from fees for permits, sale of
old materials, ETC., 81, 232.S2 making a
total of $3.50. $50. 49,
The total expenditures were $221, 1893. 70.
leaving a balance to our credit OF
| SIS, 95S. 19; of the amount 81, 450 will be re-
quired to pay for the new chemical en-
| CINE, for whic hcontract has been entered
into, and IS, 429.7 rs will be needed to com
plete the erection of building for Engine
| COMPANY No. Is.
During the past year there has been
nine deaths in thisc- ity through fire,
Ida, Albert and Gustave Reich lost their
lives through fire-at Ll~ir residence at
81 Germania avenue. The Department
was prompt in responding TO the alarm,
but the unfortunate people were dead
before its arrival. Had the alarm been
sent in more promptly, it is probable
that some, if not all, of them might
On Jan. 5, 1888, 2:13 a. M, wiIliam
Hutchinson (colored) vas found suffo-
Gated to death by smoke upon the arrival
| ark Avenue.
On May z, 1898, 3 p. M, R. Messar and
100 Grand street. They were carried out
of the building by members of the De-
partment and sent to the Hospital, but
died soon after.
In this connection may be mentioned the
subject of fire escapes.
We have from time to time called the
| dItenl1OH Oh yOuT ftOHoIdDle bodTu u litt
necessity of enacting some suitable
ordinance in reference to the erection
of fire escapes. While none of the
| deaths by fire during the year can be
charged up to the absence of these
structures, we feel that some catastro-
phe will some day occur that will empha-
size in a fearful manner the necessity for
these safeguards.
In our opinion a new truck company
should be located in the section of the
city near the corner of Summit and
| Sip Avenues, and a chemical engine
company IN the Bergen section.
In our estimate for the current veal,
submitted to the Board of Finance, we
| asked for an appropriation to purchase
a new aerial truck, and also for a sum
sufficient to organize a chemical engine
mpan but our request was not grant
ed.
Additional apparatus will be needed in
the near future in lower Jersey City, also
in the Greenville and West Bergen sec
tons, which is being rapidly built up,
| and that portion of the city covered by
the Twelfth ward.
| the officers and men of the department
| our thanks for the faithful and Jealous
manner in which they have discharged
| their duties during the past year.
JOHN BRENNAN,
President.
T. d. MILLS,
JOHN A. ERICKSON,
Fire Commissioners.
Attest: Charles Esrerbrook, Clerk.
Motion by Commissioner Mills and
| adooted:-
That the annual report of the Board to
the Board of Aldermen be printed in man