The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1905-09-04
CHIEF BYWATER
TALKS ON FIRE
Many Valuable Inventions for Saving
Property from Flames.
GOOD WORK OF FIRE BOATS
SOME FIGURES OF INTEREST ON.
SALT LAKE.

annual convention of the international
Fire Chiefs held at Duluth, Mimi, and
the thirty-third annual convention OF
/ the National Firemen's association held
at Kansas City. AT the conventions
/ this year demonstrations with new
/ methods Of fighting fire were made.
! The most efficient fire lighting ma
chimes, trucks. ladders and other equip
ment were exhibited, and the merits
1 of these tested. The invention OF the
/ fire boat and the latest improvements
+ in FIRE engines were considered by the
delegates of the conventions as the
I greatest devices to the protection OF
property. Chief BYWater was enthu-
siaStic over the result of demonslra-
J lions made at Duluth, and maintained
that the convention was the most sue
! cessful ever held.
Gould the fire fighters of a few years
ago, he said, see today the mechan-
ism placed in the fire departments all
over the country their eyes would be
opened wide Many of the difficulties
have been done away with and devices
are being turned out yearly that insure
more protection to buildings and prop
erty. The pressure that can be had
from the best constructed water sys-
TENS in the nation today are made
quate 10 cope with fires that originate
at great heights or inside large build
/ mgs. With the aid of the present fire
machines and equipment building,
no matter how large or tall, can be
reached i'm the matter of few min
utes. The demonstrations which were
made for the benefit of the fire chiefs
were intensely interesting and show
: that inventors haya turned fbpiy. minds
/ toward devising machines for the pro-
lection of property and lives.
Fire Boat at Duluth.
AT Duluth l visited the fire boat
! which was constructed at a cost of
! 100000. The boat is harbored just to
! the east OF the city and is equipped
/ with one of the finest fire alarm sys-
\ TENS, In case of a fire the location is
/ given and the boat steams down the
/ lake TO the Waterman in that district,
! which runs down to the lake front. The
/ engines on the boat are connected with
| the Waterman and the pumps are
started. The pressure that can be OBJ
/ talned by this method is much higher
/ IMAM amy water system affords ia the
country. In connection with the water
mains they also have a telephone serY-
Ice Just as soon as the engines are
connected the men at the fire are in
/ direct communication with the firemen
on the boat. They can call for any
I amount of water or have it jumped 10
any distributing section along the
Waterman, OF course, this is only
practicable where cities are situated
near some body of water Duluth also
has an excellent water system. but
the Hfe boat has proved a success. and
greater pressure can be obtained from
IL. In the course of a year or two il
Is evident that nearly every CITY that
can put fire boat into practical use
VIII install one in connection with its
fire department.
When Powder Is Harmless.
Seventy thousand rounds of ammu-
milton We're exploded by fire i'm a small
enclosed shed, which shows that fire
men can with safety enter a building
Ia which ammunition is stored. Thou
/ sands stood around the building and
/ Hfemen eXtinguished the flames at a
distance of twenty feet from the build
ing during the rapid discharge of the
car trldges. For years fights have been
ulade against the storage of ammuni-
ton IN buildings, but the test made he
/ lore the members of the convention
: showed that there was little danger. I
observed that one cartridge might ex-
pIode IN a box. but that il does not go
OH win SUFFICIENT force to ignite 9TH
efs, and for this reason a simultaneous
explosion of ammunition is impossibIe
Inc test was made iii Il vacant lot
Whefe small pine shanty was erected
zen rect square and eight feet high.
| win roof and chmneys Inside Tho
shed were placed two bales of evce1sjn,-
and two cords of dry pine slabs
thousands OF cartridges We're dumped
OH Top or the slabs and excelsior. Rovas
VI cartridges of ell sizes were leaned
ub against the walls of the buiIdino
Nhen they had packed enough amnn-
hlt4oii INTO the shanty 10 kill every per-
son IN Salt Lake, they poured kero-
sene over the fuel and cartridges and
l5hIted II IN dozen places Instantly
the names leaped high i'm the air. ana
me NhOle building was ablaZe both in
sue ana out. A moment later the
CtdLter or the cartridges commenced.
IL sounded like a carload of fire
crackers going off all at once. Despite
the rapid fire of the unconfned shells
HIeillen turned water onto the shed and
worked within a few feet of the hurn-
ing mass. When the fire was raeinel At
It's best, clouds of yellow smoke fol-
lowed the explosion of the shells Oc-
caslonally one could hear .sDat'' ON !
the nremen's rubber coats. or see
zlg-zag tail of smoke as the shell
popped up few feet in the air.
After the flames We're extinguisbed |
gathered uD handfuls of shells and
cartridges, which l brought back with /
me. observed that the shells
bursted near their butts and in some !
cases the slug was still in the cart |
ridge.
For long time the fire Insurance |
Underwriters have tried To raise the |
rates on buildings storing ammunition |
ana at the present time there is still a |
movement on foot. 1 believe. how
ever, that this demonstration may i'm |
TIME do away with the idea that the |
explosion of cartridges is deadly i'm |
fires.
In reviewing the fire records of last
year, / found that the loss DER CAPITA !
Tor salt Lake City was only ne, This is |
very low for the area of Salt Lake CITY |
ana there are few cities in the limited /
states with population UPWARDS of /
10000 that has so low a Dercentaee /
The total valuation of the proDertv on 1
Whlch claim for loss was made amount /
ed TO S3Un,611. and was covered nv /
81 .565, 400 Insurance. The total Ioss or, !
the buildings was given at $40. 332 and |
me total insurance loss was given al /
9oO,4if. The statistics also show that |
SalI Lake had an area of fOrty-6ve
square miles. and that there were only
about twenty-five cities that had a 1
larger area. These statistics yrara /
made out by the insurance under
writer's ana We're accepted by the Fire
ChleIs convention as correct data. At
present salt Lake is la need of another
nre station, but / believe that il viii
come in due time. and that the number
of men will be increased.
While attending the National Fire