The Savannah morning news. (Savannah, Ga.) 1900-current, 1902-08-20
FIRE INSPECTORS AT WORK.
Going Through Buildings in the
Business Section.

Business Section.
Piles of rubbish on Broughton street
yesterday attracted attention to a
time and which will be for the greater
good of Savannah, aiding the fire de-
! partment much in locating the danger
spots in fires which occur in the BUSH
ness districts.
The trash is found by the inspection
squads which daily go out from the
fire department under the charge of
Inspector 2. j. Mcguire, which is from
the three downtown companies.
The inspection, as it is called, is
seni-annual and begins at River street
and goes south as far as Oglethorpe
avenue, the work taking nearly three
months to complete, so that it will be
seen that it will run on for a month
| yet.
The firemen thoroughly inspect each
house in the territory assigned and If
they find anything that is a violation
! of the fire laws or anything that tends
| to make the work of the department
| dtficult, the owner is notified and the
| matter is remedied.
| Perhaps the chief feature of these in
| spections is the report which is pre-
| pared at the close of each day. 1t in
| cludes a complete summary of every
| thing that can be of assistance to the
| department. On a blank prepared for
| the purpose the inspector notes the
material of which the building is con-
| structed, the location of the doors,
whether or not they lock on the out
| side and what kind of lock it is, con-
! dition of the chimneys, where the scut-
| tie on the roof is located and how
closed, the windows-where located
| and how fastened, outside or inside,
where the stove-pipes are to be found
and how they are located as regards
! adjacent woodwork, whether or not
| there is any waste paper or other in
| fammable material on the premis IS,
and a dozen other things that the I'm
| itiated would not think of as in any
way dangerous. Then on the back of
! these reports there is a ground plan Of
! the building, floor by floor, where is
| noted with great care the place where
| fireworks, gunpOwder dynamite and
| other high explosives are habitually
| kept.
The reason of this is apparent at
| once, and it is safe to say that many a
disaster is averted by this careful To-
| cation of those things Whica, when a
| big house is burning, cause so much
| loss of life, simply because the firemen
have not known that the danger was
present.
Speaking of the INSPECTION, Fire
| Chief Mcguire said that the work is
more than half finished and tlat it is
| being done with q thocoughness that
had never been equdlled. To the in
| spection system he ascribes the de-
| crease in the number of fires in the
| business district. The citizens, he ad-
| ded, have been ready to meet the de-
partment in this work and in only a
| few cases has there been any neces-
sity for more than a verbal notice
where stuff of an inflammable nature
| has been found. However, where the
| occupant of the premises does not COM
| ply with the warming a written notice
| to the effect that the matter must be
| attended to within twenty-four hours
| of a case will be entered on the infor-
nation docket is given. Finally, the
| ground plans referred to above are
| copied into a book where they are kept
at headquarters for the use of the
| officials.