Norwich bulletin., 1909-12-31
FACTS ABOUT FIRES. Census Bureaus Interesting Statistics Relative to Fire Ladies and Losses.

Washington, D. O, Dec. 30, 1s0s- The number of city employees of the fire departments in the 15s cities treat ed of in the forthcoming United States statistics of cities of 30,000 and more estimated population in 1907, was 23,055, or nearly three-fourths of the number of employees of the police de- partments in the same cities.
 Fire protection in many cities, how ever is furnished in large measure by volunteer fire organizations, sa that the fire fighting force is somewhat larger than the police force. Call men cities with population of over 100,- 900. and in the last few years there has been a marked tendency for all cities of over 10000 inhabitants to replace call men with regular men.
 It Is stated that by presenting the number of regular firemen per 10000 inl1a bitants. the number per 1000 acres of land area, and the number per 100 miles of improved streets, opportunity is afforded for comparaing the effect i've strength of the departments of the different cities. The number per 10,- 900 inhabitants Is probably the best measure of fire protection.
 An Increase in Appropriations.
 The appropriati tions for 1906 and 1907 as given in the bulletin include the anticipated expenditures and outlays and for maintenance. The appropria- lions for 1907 amounted to 38,529, 6S6, an increase of $3,e4S.S56, or i0.5 per cent. over the previous year. This. however, does not mean, 1t is stated that the expense of maintaining the departments increased at that rate, for a portion of this amount was appIopri- ated for the purchase of land, the con- struction of buildings, and for new apparatus. The per capita appropria- tion for the 1858 cities reporting was $L65.
 The per capita cost of maintenance of fire departments in foreign cities is. according to the bulletin, much lower than in cities of the United States, computations recently made by the United States geological survey plac- ing the per capita expense in Berlin at $0.26. London at $0.19, St. Petersburg at s0.22, Paris at $o.21, Milan at $0.17, and Stockholm at $0.23. The bulletin cautions that the inference should not be drawn from these data that the fire departments of this country are not economically administered. The low per capita cost of maintenance abroad is the result of stricter building pre- cautions to prevent the occurrence of fires. The foreign municipalities also
 
 purposes, an expense incurred by two ffths of the departments in the large cities of this country.
 In those cities from which complete reports were made there were SS,525 fire alrms during 1907 and 7S,507 fires, of which 52,343 resulted in losses. In other words, only 59.3 per cent. of the alarms were for fires which occasioned loss. Similarly, disregarding those cities with incomplete reports, the total | loss through fires was s4S,676,730, on which insurance was paid amounting to S42,s55,725. leaving a net loss of l S6,021005, or 12.4 per cent.
 The total fire loss per capita was l $2.2s and the total net loss per capita | S0.2s. Of the total loss reported a sep l sration of the total on buildings and the total on their contents was return- | ed for $4s s,30S,0S1, showing that s1S,- | 9e5.42T, or S9.3 per cent. was on build ings and S2s,342,654, or 6O.7 per cent. was on contents.