Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1903-01-13
AN INSURANCE PATROL
CHIEF DUTTON ADVOCATES ITS
ESTABLISHMENT.
It Has Proved Effective in Other Cities
. Insurance Men Are
Against It.

Against It.
| While Washington has nearly all that
other cities have, even the larger ones, and
much more than many have 1T has no fire
| insurance patrol, or salvage corps, to be
/ found in nearly all of the cities in the east
| and north.
| This feature of fire fighting is an auxiliary
arm Of the regular fire department. The
| outfit consists of a light but very strong
| open wagon, not unlike our police patrol
| wagons in style, drawn by two feet-footed
| horses, especially selected for their speed !;
| the wagon carrying on an average of seven
| men, several good-sized chemical fire extin-
| guishers and equipment Of axes, hooks, etc.,
| and especially a number of various sized
waterproof oil and rubber tarpaulins.
The insurance patrol houses are connected
| with the regular fire alarm circuit, and the
| apparatus responds to alarms precisely the
| same as the regular apparatus of the de-
! partment, according to the station to which
the insurance patrol wagon may be attach
ed. Usually. by reason of their light equip
| ment, they are first on the scene of fire,
and render efficient service in extinguishing
| incipient blazes with the chemical extin-
guishers keeping small fires from develop
| ing into large ones, and rendering other
services in conjunction with the regular de-
partment.
Their principal service, however, and that
| for which they are organized, consists OF
| preserving personal property in houses and
goods in stores and warehouses from DAM
| age by water The men in the insurance
| patrol are experts in their line and with
| almost incredible skill get out their tar
| pauins spread them over valuable bronzes,
| works of art, bric-a-brac, tapestries etc,
| in dwelling, and, in some instances, nall
ing with their special appliances water
proof cloth over the entire side of a wall
of an art gallery or drawing room filled
| with paintings. In stores show cases ana
often being piled in the center Of the store
| and securely covered from the water as 1t
| falls from above.
Application to Washington.
| In fires in the second story and above the
| damage done by water to the parlors of a
| dwelling and the goods Of a store is often
| greater than that done by fire; in fact the
| percentage is much greater, and it Is at
these fires that the insurance patrol render
the most efficient service.
| In discussing the need of an insurance
patrol in Washington with Star man this
morning Chief Dutton Of our local fire de-
| partment said:
| 1.-THE New York city fire insurance patrol
| maintains six stations in the metropolis
| the entire cost last year being about W.T.
6bO This cost Is borne by the insurance
| companies under the law of that state. The
| insurance patrol is also maintained in Phil
| adelphia, Boston, Chicago, Baltimore and
| other cities, of the smaller New Eng
| land cities with large manufa curing inter-
| ests also having the salvage corps.
| 1.-The District is without a salvage corps.
| In the cities where the corps is maintained
| 1t has proved a most valuable and import
ant adjunct to the fire department., and
| much valuable property has been saved
| through it. Generally if not without ex-
| cepton, salvage corps are maintained by
| private enterprise, but it being believed
that Congress would not establish one
here, the department would look with salts
faction upon the establishment of local
| salvage corps by private enterprise.
| 81 cannot say whether our local fire In
| surance companies and those doing BUSH
| ness with us would feel that the exigences
| Of the situation demanded a salvage corps
| in Washingt on, but were one to be estab-
iished in the capital our fire department
| would, of course, allow cooperation to the
| extent Of other cities, and we would, In
fact welcome one established along the
| same lines as elsewhere.
From the Insurance Standpoint.
From one point of view our chemical
| engine service supplies the place of the
fire insurance patrol. in that light piece of
chemical fre-fighting apparatus is quickly
dispatched to the scene of the fire, and
| renders most efficient service in small
| blazes and in other ways in which this
| object of the fire patrol, however, is more
for the protection of property from water.
| while 1t is the purpose of the chemical engine
| to extinguish the blaze, if possible, before
| the steamers find it necessary to get on
! stream. The fine record Of our chemical
| engine service, especially in small fires in
| the business districts is such that this arm
| of the service does splendid work, and we
| would like to have more Of these swift and
| efficient little scouts of the fire department. -
/ of haxy
! established in Washington has received Of
| fetal attention at the hands of our local
| insurance men, but 1t has not found favor
| Mr.. Henry Wells, president of the board of
| fire underwriters. said this morning:
| THE insurance men of this city have
made an exhaustive examination into the
| matter, and the report has been adverse to
| It's adoption for many reasons. In the first
| place, the initial and continuing cost of
maintenance of a salvage corps here would
| be heavy. A report made by a committee
especially appointed lor this purpose, which
| committee visited the northern and eastern
| cities where the salvage corps is main
| tanned, was in effect that the situation in
| the capital did not justify the insurance
| companies in establishing the system here
| Our fire department does good work in the
| fires 1t handles, and as the corps is mainly
designed to save property in buildings in
which fires occur it was thought, when the
| matter came up, that such property as
| would be saved in this manner would not
be commensurate with the cost of the corps
Business Mems Views.
Congress would not, 1t is thought, aid
| In the maintenance of a salvage corps
holding, presumably, that the local fire
department afforded all the protection
which the taxpayers could reasonably ex-
pect. While many cities in the north
smaller than Washington have salvage
corps, manufacturing and business condi-
lions are different. and 1 do not look for
the establishing of the system in this city,"
Some of our merchants seen by the re-
porter, on the contrary, look with favor
| upon the idea, and among these Is Mr.
| Frank Harrison of 1913 F street Mr. Har-
rison said that he thought the idea a good
| one. and was one which he had seen exem-
| plified to great advantage in Massachusetts,
| cities. While the COST he said, would be
| comparatively large, he believed that in the
business sections Of town, especially, the
salvage corps would soon demonstrate its