Daily press. [volume] (Newport News, Va.) 1896-current, 1907-09-17
NEW YORK CITY FIRES
Facts About the Causes of the
Flames aud Department
That Extinguishcs
Them.

For cnrclcssly dropped cigarettes
and matches New York city pays in
fire losses The tidy sum of $25Oo.-
900 in single ycai. If the other
causes of New York's twcntythroo
daily fires defective or mismanagcd
heating and lighting apparatus and
machinesy badly constructed build
ings. greasy waste. hot ashes and sim
liar fire cncouragcrs-ar taken into
account. the bill for fooling with fire
in New York Is $lO,O0.OOo II year. dis
tributcd among S 500 different alarms.
This figure. based upon the official
fire patrol reports, does not. however.
include $il500O paid directly by the
taxpayer for damage to Hire depart.
mcnt property, For every time the
fire bells rings in the city and The
apparatus goes out. even for false
alarm. it costs at icast $50 for dam,
age To trucks and strain ON the valu.
allc fire horses Nor does IT include
half million dollars of damage to
asphalt pavomcnts fsom chillrcn's
hunfirCs.
such proportions that boards Of I'M
dcrwritors ana also the five patrols
are making an elaborate study " thJ
causes of fires In fact they take tho
fever temperature OF New Yorke
buildings MS carefully as Il physician
follows the rovei line of typhoid
patient. Ana these observations arc
chartcd carefully by expert siatis,i
clans and made the subject Of dccn
study my pyros specialists. Tho most
recent of these yearly charts. cover
Ing G.357 fires in the botughs oi
Manhattan and the Bronx. which did
over S7.000,O0O damage, gives some
peculiar statistics
ironing Day Busy One.
The most fiery day of the week IN
New York is ironing day-Tucslay
| when 9S0 fires occurred, due partlS
to the RANGES ana pas stoves hclnl
| Kept AT full blast with piles of Dir,
clothes around them Tho busiest
hour. G to Z o'clock. when an aver
age of 52l alarm" como in. At thi,
| time factories and Offices have jus
hccn deserted. AMI whatever has beer
left amiss has time to finish smoldcs
ing ana burst into flame. The lslsics
month in january. when coal Is pile,
up to get more heat This mont
has Go fires to its credit though
November. with its election cclcbri
lions ana the necessity of using NOR,
light and giving heating apparatu,
It's first really good test. is Il clos,
second. with G25 fires to its discrcdit
| Recreation hours seem to he tn,
| time of the day when the bulk o
the fires occur, and the period from
midnight to 6 in the morning tn,
lichtcst. For but sec fires are chnrc
| cd 20 carly morning. while 2.35G oc
| Cured between G O'Clock and mid
| night; 1897 We're ut the shopping am
matinee hours. from noon to
o'clock; and lbs happened hctwcc,
breakfast and luncheon. And thi,
idea is further borne ont by the fac
that the second highest figure for tn,
week 932. is for Sunday. when tn,
people are mt church or off on out
ings.
The special frequency of fires be
tween 6 o'clock ana midnight is nj
| tribniablc in number of causes. II
the first place. during these hour
imorc lights are burning than n
any other time. Opcn fires are light
ed: there is more smoking OF ci
gars; alcohol chatting dishes are vrr,
much in requistion All of thcs
things mean that matches are NOR
used then than at any other of tn
day. Factories and stores are d,
serted. and If there has been an,
fire seed sown before & o'clock i
may bc expected to gcrminatc bcfor
midnight. Moreover the streets n
this hour are filled with people VIII,
are careless about letting matches o
lighted cigars fall into doorways o