The Bridgeport evening farmer., 1912-09-07

ment and They Keep the Rates Up
 In refutation of the criticisms that
 have recently been made against the local fire department, the Fire Conn
 mlss1oners gave out a. statement to- day. The statement comes from the
 board as whole and not any one member of. it. II undertakes to an- sWer the criticisms that have been
 made of the department bv the fire
 underwriters in the recent report of their special investigators. President
 Wallace G. Taylor said: s.This state
 ment should not be regarded as any answer to the criticisms alleged to nave been made by the Allentown fire
 men who visited us recently. Such criticisms as they. may have made did not come to the board directly from their criticisms, if they made any
 Here IS the statement which comes from the Fire Commissioners:
 Bridgeport's fire department has been a much-discussed institution dur ing the past two weeks From vari- ous sources, varying criticisms of it have come. Some have been favor able; most have been unfavora bic. The Board of Fire Commissioners be- lieves that as administrators of the oCpdI lOf the GUY and for It's taxpayers, it is proper that it should at this time give to those taxpayers and to the city in general some facts Y Hn1ch 91e.ts1s are. .1S ;n9t generally known
 some critics, Bridgeport has an em- clent fire department It is not the best department in the country; no thinking person would so claim But it is an efficient department. It's members are keenly interested in their work It's officers are men of exper- in 4Icr h inc active. unafraid. and intent on per- forming their work quickly and we'll Even the investiga tors of the National Board of Fire Underwriters officially pronounce the department efficient
 It is true there is a fire hazard in Bridgeport, large hazard. There is city can afford to maintain a fire de- partment of such magnitude as would be able to. cope with the fire which daries. So large a department mt would would be costly beyond all reason. Danger of large fire is something that is present in every city. That danger will always be present until such time as the law makes it impossible to erect buildings which will burn quick ly- But progressive city makes pro- vision to extinguish ordinary fires without the loss of minute of time and that is the aim of the Bridge port department: to get quickly to a fire and to quickly extinguish that
 Ie has been said that only through good 1uck'' has Bridgeport esca ped a Quick-moving apparatus, quick-acting men, prompt use of the effective chem ica1 exiting an abundant wa ter supply,-if these constitute good As a. matter of fact, all these ele- mentS enter into the splendid record which has been made by Bridgeport
 Just how good that record is will be shown at glance from tn recent re- port of the Underwriters committee. The average loss per fire in Bridgeport during the past five years was $500, "a low figure" The average yearly loss per capita was s1.O4, "a low fig ure'' It required more than good luck to make such a record. It re- quired efficient work and genuine i-- terest-and the expenditure of a large of money by the city. From the Underwriters report we find that in 1908 the city spent upon it's fire $156,152, while for the year ending March 3lst, 1912. tEere was spent $40. s4S. Here is an increase pense.
 During that time, Zoo, the number of men and amount Of equipment was largely creased. Two engines with 1 hose wagons, one truck, two chemical engines, two chiefs automobiles, one ! with chemical tank, three turret noz- [ added to th- equipment. More iinpor- | tant than this, the makeup of the de- 1 partment was radically changed In 1 1904 there were 45 permanent men and 1 33 call men in the department. To- | day, not including the fire alarm force or the clerk, there are 130 permanent l men and no calimen.
 I3ridgeport's citizens are asking why. | in face of this improvement, there has been so little reduction in fire insur- ance rates. No answer has yet been given them which is satisfa ctory. In stead of an answer. there comes to them the report from the Underwrit- ers' committee, committee which is believed by citizens generally to be em oloyed especially to pick flaws in the .ities which it visits.
 The Underwriters committee is committee of pessimists. It's members simply have to be pessimists; they are paid to be. They look at a cruller md see only the hole They look at 1 he fire department and see its defc- encies. The Fire Board has no quar- e! with the Underwriters committed 1 ts members were gentIemanly, ca 1al l5Ie and courteous But the Fire 3oarl wishes to point out some things egarding the report made by that committee and to especially point out tome things not included in the re- port
 It is recommended that fire alarm be removed to q freproof building and that the so-called man. 1a1 system be installed. As q mat CT of fact, steps toward this end were aken nearly a year ago. The Board
 1sE- toni