The Birmingham age-herald., 1905-12-16
Preliminary Report.

Preliminary Report.
 Atlanta Ga, December Il, 1905. MT. George J. Dexter, President, Atlanta,
 Ga.
 Dear Sir-Referring to our conversation this morning and complying with your re- quest, l beg to make a preliminary report regarding conditions in above city. The special committee spent two days of last week in conference with the mayor and the citizens committee, and 1t Is gratify- ing to say that public opinion seems now aroused to the seriousness of the situation and the necessity of doing something at once to bring about improvement in the fire protection and thus restore confidence on the part of the companies composing the association.
 On our arrival we were informed that an election for a chief of the fire depart ment was to be held the next day, and the department being under criticism at the time, the citizens committee unani- mously requested that action be deferred until the efficiency of the present in cumbent and the force under him should be carefully examined into.
 Fire Department.
 Prior to our visit, the mayor and coun- cil had entered into a contract with ex- Chief Hale of the Kansas City fire de- pdrlneDIt to NiSll llllll6 lldln anu LO tA- anime Into and investigate this particular branch of the public service making such recommendations as he might deem nec- essary to put 1t upon a satisfactory basis. The opinion of your committee Is that the chief cause of the unfortunate conditions now confronting us at Birmingham Is the fire department. With this weakness corrected, we believe other reforms will logically follow.
 ,l this city the city has contracted for the following apparatus:
 CD. Contract awarded to American La Franc Fire Engine company, Elmira N. Y. for one extra first size (metropoli- tam steam fire engine and one No. 1 heater.
 CD. Contract awarded to the Seagreaves company for one patent S5-foot aerial hook and ladder truck.
 (3). Contract awarded to American La Franc Fire Engine company, Elmira. N. Y, to overhaul the old Babcock aerial | truck to conform to the new American | L.aFranc patent spring aerial truck (4 Contract awarded Eureka Fire Hose | company for 5000 feet of (Paragon) fire | hose.
 (5). Record of order to O. P. Crocker, general agent of the Gamewell Fire Alarm | company for twelve keyless fire alarm
 
 and indicator for pumping station; also twenty-sx boxes will be provided with key guards.
 Water Supply.
 We. of course, have had no opportunity l in the time which has elapsed since the work was undertaken to go fully and 1 thoroughly into the water supply and dis tribution of fire hydrants but Inspector | Mcknight has this under charge and we hope, as result of his Investigation, to 1 completely cover this before final re- port is submitted We may state briefly, 1 however. that we believe there Is an abundant supply of water in the business section and that progress is being made l in carrying out the asssociat ton require ments as to the introduction of new 1 hydrants at many localities and additional | hydrants at points where previous in- | spection show them much needed It Is well. with reference to the so- called reducing valve, located on Twenty l seventh street, near Avenue I, which 1t was claimed was still being used to re- | duce the flow from the reservoir to the | distributing system. and that the same l is not in commission. In fact. our in- | spector tells us that 1t was with great | difficulty that the water works people 1 located the manhole enabling them to l personally see that this allege means of
  ! actually in use.
 | Our inspector made rests of the pres- | sure in the business district, which he | informs us was satisfactory and which will be covered in his detailed report | later on.
 Construction of Buildings. One of the requirements of which the | association has been most inslstent Is the adoption of satisfactory ordinances regu- | lating the safe construction of buildings and the appointment of a competent build | ing inspector to enforce the same. The | copy of building laws approved May IT. 1 1905, submitted to us. is now under ex- | animation, but our investigation so far | shows that it does not comply in many | important points with the code submitted | by the association a guide. I have | particular reference to the sections refer | ring to thickness of enclosing and divis- | ion walls We are in correspondence re- | garding this. our inspector not being able l to secure information as to the deviation | on account of the illness of the archi- | tect who. we are informed. prepared the | specifications for the city after an inter- view with former committee.
 Building Inspector. The present city engineer is also the | city building inspector, an ex-chief of the fire department being his assistant, and so far as our interests lie performs the | practical duties of the office. Our under standing is that on account of other duties devolving on the city engineer, all the details of building inspection, so far as 1t relates to fire insurance. are under taken by his assistant. It ts not claimed