Every evening, Wilmington daily commercial., 1920-07-13
CONCENTRATION OF
CITY FIRE FIGHTERS
IS RECOMMENDED
When Arrangements Are Made for
Complete Paid De
partment.
SOME FIGURES ARE GIVEN

Concentration of Wilmingtons hre
fighting forces into q more compact or
ganixation is being considered by the
Chamber of Commerce committee ana
others working on the effort to have CITY
Council establish paid department IN
the city. They consider the pan q depart
ment n necessity and Unavoidable, and
believe that the time has come to work on
details Of organization.
They suggest that advice could be Sc
cured from such organizations as the
National Fire Underwriters Association
as 20 the amount and kind of equipment
needed, but consider II probable that the
number of stations actually needed would
be not greater than half the present num-
her. which Is t2. IL has been suggested
that the force be divided into two battal-
IONS. rs Is done in many citlzs, each to act
under = battalion chief.
Complaints regarding the figures which
nut Nilmngtons FIRE loss for 1919 at
over 81 900 900 are answered by I. /.
Rridgham of the Chamber of Commerce
committee which secured the figures and
released them for publication. ITO the
hest nf my knowledge and belief, he said.
those figures are incorrect. Wilmington
would be IN an alarming condition IT they
were accurate
But those arc the figures" he continu-
ed ''nn the records Of the National Fire
Underwriters Association, on which our
insurance schedules are based. And they
do not oyerstate matters so largely as
has been said Figures from the state in
surance office, placing the loss for the
entire state at about SiSO.OD0, are IN
complete as some kinds of insurance do
not pass through that office, not TO men
ton the losses only partly covered by
surance. IN which case the amount OF IN
surance may hc taken as the amount Of
loss
QUESTION OF FIN ANGLING.
The financing Of the paid department
would not hc So serious a thing as has
been said. according 10 MIR Brigham
Admitting that the total cost Of installa-
tinn might reach 81 .OoO,oO0 he pointed
out that this would not all have 10 be paid
ont NJ once Purchase Of apparatus, he
thought, might he accomplished for about
sihoeo, and arrangements might be
made for renting the houses until the
city wa. in n better position to pay Tor
them
A bond issue hy City Council would not
be- noateh without authority Of the Legs
laturs, excerpt IN case of some such cmer-
gency, such as a large decrease IN the
ranks ~ volunteer hremen, IN which
event temporary loan could be nego-
tiated. This is considered improbable, as
musi of the companies have declared that
thev will remain on duty until they are
relieved
The question Of recruiting firemen for
paid force has also been considered A
worker for the paid department said yes
terdav Some men are fire-fghters by
instinct and there are many of these
among the volunteers The best possible
material for professional fre-hghters is to
he found in the ranks Of the present com
panics, and IL would be TO them that the
city would 90 for It's paid force
Ii was pointed out that the volunteer
companies have on their rolls an In
creasingly large proportion of men well
along m wears The young men do not
ran 90 fires as their fathers and grand
fathers did, said a lifelong resident OF
the city The new generation is in
terested in other things Many of the
older members are hanging on. he added.
IN expectation Of the paid department,
when the property Of the company will be
sold and the proceeds divided among
the members.
One FIRE company, the PhTnix. held a
meeting last night-the regular monthly
session but, according TO George B.
Ward the president, transacted only
routine business No further action was
taken IN regard TO the companys demand
on Council for an increase of 81 800 in
pexf years allowance