Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1907-02-05
Wide Tires and Fire Losses.

The wagon owners of Washington in pri
yate business are not the only ones who
would be seriously affected by the wide-tire
law proposed in the form of the House bill
now pending in the Senate. The District gov
ernment itself is prospective sufferer from
its requirements. inasmuch as it Is justly
so written as to include all vehicles weigh
ing 1900 pounds and more when loaded.
For an instance, the apparatus OF the fre
department would need to be re-equipped
throughout. AT present all fire engines ana
trucks i'm the District have tires from three
to three and half inches wide. the water
towers tires are three and three-eightns
inches wide, while hose carts have tires OF
maximum width of two and three-quarters
inches, some of them less. All of these
vehicles. when fully laden, are heavier
than the maximum weight proposed
steamer weighs from 1000 to 10000 POUNDS,
81 truck weighs from 1900 to 10000 pounds'
the water tower weighs $500 pounds, ana a
hose cart about 5000 pounds. 1t would
therefore be necessary to reht all OF the
apparatus not only with wider tires, but
with heavier axles to bear the addiuonai
weight of the wheels
Without regard for the expense involved
this change would have serious erect
upon the efficiency of the fire department.
Every response to an alarm would be IN
some degree slower than before. Especially
in the business district lying north OF
PENNSYLVANIA avenue, the delays due to an
increase of the weight of wheels would De
a menace to property, owing 10 the sharp
grade which all apparatus must overcome
in passing northward. The speed of
steamer is always somewhat slackened on
hntv y
streets. even with three horses in action,
and If the engine is laden with heavier
wheels this check will be more pronounced
than ever.
One of the prime reasons why Washing
tons fire loss is lighter than in many
other cities is that In consequence Of the
broad streets and comparative freedom
from congestive traffic the apparatus
reaches the scene of a fire much more
promptly than elsewhere. The few minutes
saved at the beginning make the difference
between a loss of few hundreds Of dol
lars and a loss of many thousands. To
extend the time between alarm and the de-
livery of water by even a fraction of
minute inevitably means an increase OF
damage in each case and an annual aggre-
gate of loss heavier than at present by
large sum of money many times the ex-
pense of keeping the asphalt pavements In
good repair.
1t is surely short-sighted policy, as well as
unjust. thus doubly to handicap the bust
ness men of Washington. Congress can not
in fairness or reason exempt the fire appa-
ratus from the operation of a wide-tre law.
and it can rot enact such a law applicable
TO all heavy vehicles without imposing
serious initial expense both upon the munic-
ipality and the business community, and
dangerously increasing the fire risk. The
obvious way to avoid such dilemma Is to
remedy the evil of bad pavements directly,
by appropriatng sufficient funds for good
pavements in the beginning and for con-
tinuously effective supervision and repairs.
With first-class materials and thorough and
competent inspection, the local street sur
faces will be vastly improved, and 1t will be
no longer even apparently necessary to i'm
pose this costly and questionaby effective
burden upon the merchants of Washington
and the farmers of the adjacent country
who haul their produce into this market.