Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1909-01-11
The Fire Loss of 1908.

| lie year WHICH came " dH eiiu IL
days ago was a bad one for fire losses
throughout the country, and an i'm
mense amount of property went up in
| smoke, u terrible sacrifice due in great
| measure to faulty construction, care
lessness and inadequate protection
We know how it was here in Maine
| Portland was the chief sufferer, but
| there were many serious fires in other
cities and towns through the State,
not to mention the great forest fires.
| And 1909 has begun with a $4,000 fire
| in SkoWhegan which the Somerset Re-
| porter plainly charges was due to the
| inexcusable failure of the local fire.
| fighters to have their equipment in
| proper working order.
But to get back to the fire losses of
1908 in the country at large. The Jour-
| nal of Commerce says that the total
loss was close to 100000 There
were 406S fires where the loss was $10,-
900 or more. AS to SO of last years
fires the report is that in each in
stance the loss reached or exceeded
100000. The years record loss was
the Chelsea one--s1O, 100000. The next
largest was the Fernie (B c. one
sS,479.o00. New York city had a 81
100000 fire last year; Three Rivers
(P. O. 100000 fire: Chisholm
(Minn) a s1,7OO,O0O fire; Boston a ST.
100000 fire; New Orleans a 81, 400, 900 fire:
Atlanta a s1,250,O fire; Chicago a ST.
10000 fire and kenora (Ont) a ST.
100000 fire. These We're the only fires
of 1908 in the million or more" class.
1t was the STEADY stream of losses
throughout the year" that swelled the
destruction by fire in this country and
the next-door country on the north to
a total which the insurance depart
ment makes--approximat y-s23S, 562,-
$50. That's a total unreached and I'm
Only twice has it been exceeded here
in 1904, the year of the great Bal
timore fire, and in 1906, the year of
San F'rancisco's earthquake-fire. The
insurance department makes the de-
struction by fire in the United States
and Canada during the last SO years
S4,50S, $685. 25-"a destruction of property
without parallel in any country in the
world" These additional remarks are
made
'There appears little explanation to
be offered for such an appalling fire
waste other than carelessness amount
ing almost to criminality, poor con-
struction. or inefficient protection. The
destruction of this vast sum of the
country's wealth annually amounts to
an important economic factor, which
Is only just finding some slight recog-
milton among those interested in con-
serving the nations resources ::
Underwriters who make study of
fires and their causes not infrequently
ask the question: Do the factors
which in the development of our
civilization operate to increase the fire
hazard, such as electricity. calcium
carbide and the increasing use of gaso-
line, more than offset the factors de.
veloped in the more extended study of
fire engineering problems, such as
better construction. the increased use
of sprinkler protection and the proper
safeguarding of the exposure hazard?"
Last months fires call for brief
paragraph by themselves. The num-
err reported as in the $4,000 or more
class was 231. There We're very few
really big December fires-the biggest
of all being the $3.50, 900 waterfront fire
at Portland, Maine-but the aggregate
destruction wrought is put down as
s1i629.750