The times dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1903-1914, 1910-01-12
WORK KEEPS
FIRE Loss DOWN
Departments Annual Report
Shows Damage Last Year
Was Only S1oo,o 600.
MOTOR E NGINE Sc RvIc
Board Recommends That Entire
Department Be Standard
lied.

+ The annual report of the Board Of
Fire Commissioners was handed to
Mayor Richardson yesterday by Pres
ldcnt Charles i. Taylor. 1t represents
the completion OF the twenty-second
year since the organization of the de-
partment under a commission by state
law, and shows that both the fire and
fire alarm service are in excellent con-
dition. The department responded to
6S6 alarms during the year, of which
the fire alarm department. transmitted
$40 alarms.
The report states that during the
year 1909 there were no fires that re-
suited seriously, though many would
undoubtedly have been disastrous ex-
cept for the promptness n efficiency
Of the department.. The fire loss for
the year did not exceed $4,000, res
garded as YER small considering the
great area covered, and stated to com
pare favorabIy with any city Of like
size in the country.
The department now has eleven
steam fire engines In service, with
one old engine in reserve. the las,
being In fair condition only. There
are in service ten combination chem
ical engines and hose wagons, and two
ordinary hose wagons and four fuel
supply wagons. Four hook and ladder
trucks arc in service. with one In re-
serve.
These are equipped with quick
undertaking devices. Each engine
company is equipped with a double
supply OF STANDARD hose. regularly
tested and mostly new. Three COM
paries In the centre of the city use
three-inch hose and nine use two and
one-half inch. The department. has
siHty-eight horses in active service
and four in reserve.
Officers aud Men.
The department. Is OF tho
following officers and lem. On CHIEF
at $4,000 per year; two assistant en-
gineers and a secretary. each $1,000.
per year; sixteen captains at s1.1o0
per year: eleven ~ensineulen ut s1.VsOa
each; one fireman. grade IA, 5000
on special detail: fo~rty-seven firemen,
grade A, at $500 each. th~irty-seven
fireman, grade Z, at 1921 each: forty
eight call men,, grade G. at 1864 each:
one machinist at sl.2Q0: part pay OF
operator of fire alarm, s32o, making 4
grand total of los officers and men,
with a total payroll for the depart
ment of s1S2,110 a year.
The board especially recommends
that the forty-eight call men be ad-
vanced to station men. so as to be
available at all times for active and
immediate service. They are at pres
ent men who have other employment.
and only report when an alarm is
sounded. Often. it is reported, they
arrive too late to be Of real assistance,
or arc so exhausted from running as
to be useless. This system of call men
is declared to be a relic of tho snail
town and the volunteer department.,
but entirely obsolete in q city cover
cring more than ten square miles. BY
making all the call men station men,
while increasing the payroll to that
extent, the department is assured that
the city win be entitled TO greatly re-
duced insurance rates, as the DEPART
ment Will then be up to the standard
required. The addition to the payroll
from standardfzing the departments
will be S31,6So per year.
During the year q hook and ladder
truck has been installed at Twenty
eighth and S Streets, with a captain
and five men.
A new engine house has been erect
ed on Twenty-fifth Street, near Broad.
for Engine Company No. i. The engine
house on Cary Street between Ninth
and Tenth has been renaodeled. and a
fuel supply house added. In the fire
alarm department the underground
cable system has been extended to
Engine Company No. s. in Fulton.
Urge Motor Service.
AS to future improvements OF the
service the board takes the ground
that speed int efficiency require that
the horse should be gradually replaced
by the motor, both for t~ime-sayinS
and endurance. It is declared to be
the sense of the board that the present
horse apparatus should be gradually
replaced with motor fire apparatus,
which can cover more ground in less
time. and which OF its arrival at the
fire can at once start pumping with
the motive power that propels 1t to
the scene. The board recommends as
a first step in that direction that
motor cars be provided for the chief
and assistant Chiefs, SO that they can
at all times reach the fire in time
properly to direct the fight. It Is
stated that such a change will prove
an economic measure, as horse feed
will be eliminated and the department.
has It's lnachlnists TO keep the motors
in repair. Thanks are extended to the
Water Departm ent. the Police Depart
ment. the Committee on Poor for am
huIarce service and to the Building