The Mankato free press., 1910-01-14
STATISTICS RELATING TO FIRES

The number of city employees of
the fire departments in the l5S cities
treated of in the Forthcoming United
States census bulletin relative to the
statistics of cities of 10000 and more
estimated population in 1907, was 29,-
O55, or nearly hree-fourths of the mum
Der of employees of the police depart
ments in the same cities. Fire protec-
tion in many cities, however, is fur
nished in large measure by volunteer
fire organizations, so that the fire
fighting force is somewhat larger than
the police force. Call men are numeri-
cally unimportant in the cities with a
population of over 100000, 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.
1t is stated that, by presenting the
number of regular fremen per 10000
inhabitants, the number per 1000 acres
of land area, and the number per 100
miles of improved streets, opportunity
is afforded for comparing the effective
strength of the departments of the diff
ferent cities. The number per 10000 in
habitants is probably the best measure of
fire protection. The appropriations for
1906 and 1907 as given in the bulletin
include the anticipated expenditures for
outlays and for maintenance. The ap-
propriations for 1907 amounted to $685.
529,636 an increase of $3,648, ,S56, or
]0.5 per cent, over the previous year.
This however does not mean it is
stated that the expense of maintain
tanning the departments increased at
that rate, for portion of this amount
was appropriated for the purchase of
land, the construction of buildings,
and for new apparatus. The per capita
appropriation for the l5S cities report
ing was $l.65.
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 Uni
ted States Geological Survey placing
the per capita expense in Berlin at 1925
London at $0l9, st. Petersburg at
1922, Paris at $O.2l, Milan at $O.l7,
and Stockholm at $O.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
IS ,,,to oh II
Is the result OF stricter building reg
ulations, more nearly fireproof build
ings, and greater precautions to prevent
the occurrence of fires. The foreign
municipalities also make no payment
for water for fire purposes, an expense
incurred by about two-fifths of the
departments in the large cities of this
country.
In those cities for which complete
reports were made there were SS,255 fire
alarms 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, disregardipg those cities
with incomplete reports, the total loss
through fires was $4S,676,730, on which
insurance was paid amounting to $42,-
655,725, leaving a net loss of $6,02l,-
055, or l24 per cent. The total fire
loss per capita was 1928 and the net
loss per capita $0.2S OF the total loss
reported a separation of the total on
buildings and the total on their con-
tents was returned for $4S,30S, ,0Sl,
showing that $ls,965,427, or 1913 per
cent was on buildings and $29,342,654,
or co., per cent was on contents.