The daily telegram. [volume] (Clarksburg, W. Va.) 1901-1926, 1911-02-14
The shame 81 CIarI.sbllrg.

sseA4 sssAS s4gSE4sSAas Hss 4S
holding mp Clarksburg IN the light
Of ridfcple and pointing Is II as y
conspicuous example Of the neces-
sity OF adequate IRE protection, as
the result Of the recent Traders
block fire. Thus "the shame OF
clarksburg," as one prominent
business man calls it, is being well
spread in the land. The latest free
Advertising the city has received
along this line is an editorial in the
Fire and Water Engineering, q
technical journal OF New York City
devoted to IRE protection, water
supply and sanitation, which edi.
torial is hereby reproduced:
A late report Of the fire protection
committee of the Board OF Fire I'm
derwriters pointed out the defects in
the fire protection OF clarksburg,
w. va. In it a fire alarm system,
motor apparatus, an aerial truck
and, In fact, full line of apparatus
and supplies for the fire department
was recommended, to bring it up 10
a normal state of efficiency. Tho
report also stated that In the event
of a large fire the present fire equip
ment and complement Of men would
be inefficient to stop 1T.
Scarcely had this report been is
sued than the following Geographic
dispatch was received from chat
city: Hclarksburg, W. va, jan
uary 81, the Traders hotel, the
Grand opera house, Ogden Com
pany's dry goods store, Davis Shoe
Company, Palace Furniture Com
pany, and number of small stores
were destroyed by fire today. The
loss was ,$25O,OOO."
This is only an instance where
poor fire protection and unprepared-
ness have caused serious loss Of life
and property, and like others, 1t
takes such lesson to awaken public
officials to a sense OF their response
biltty before they take steps to pro-
tect the people, whose interests they
are sworn to conserve. ut is fires
like this that swell the great total
-afegless of this country every year.
With couple OF good steamers and
a few underground cisterns placed
at important points in the business
sections of city like clarksburg,
some tangible protection would
would be provided and probably
prove effective in extino ishing
ordinary fires with small loss.
Twenty thousand dollars a year
would be ample, to maintain a de.
partment for a city of twenty
thousand population, and surely
this cannot be considered an ex-
orbitant sum to ensure immunity
against fire and give security to the
community that 1t may conduct its
business without the fear of being
wiped out in a confagration that is.
likely to occur at any time where
no protection exists. There would
be no need of keeping insurance
risks at abnormally high figures, If
the recommendations OF the fire
protection committee were only
partly carried out. 1T seems incon-
ceivable that business people would
rather pay these high rates than
spend few thousand dollars to
equip and maintain good fire de-
partment.
Will the lesson taught by the
Clarksburg CONGREGATION prove in
structive to other communities in al
similar position? We fear not, as
many such lessons are taught every
day when reports of fires from ALI
over the country are published and
the press advices to prepare go I'M
needed. So long as city or town
allows its fire protection to be rated
low, so long will the people be COM
PEELED to pay big insurance risks.
Better spend one hundred thousand
to establish a fire department than
to destroy property worth half a!
million and pay a large percentage
of business earnings to insurance
companies to compensate for injury
caused by fire that in all probability
would not have occurred If protec-
ton had been provided, The un-
certainty of business while cities and
towns are not sufficiently protected
against fire is also consideration
well worth taking into account.
NAMES EASTERN TRIP.