The Washington times. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1902-1939, 1920-12-26
FIRE HAZARD LESS
WITH ELECTRICITY
National Survey Shows Only
3,643 ConfIagrations Were
Caused by Wires.

national survey % nres through
out the country End their origin for
the year 1919 has been made by the
Society for Electrical development
Reports from $50 cities with 5000 or
more population, representing in the
aggregate close 10 ~ 100000 people,
OF about half the POPULATION Of the
country now electrically served, show
that there were l29,050 fres in these
communities during 1919 OF inns
number only 3.843 In residences. CON
nerclsl buildings. etc, are attributed
TO electrical origin. Carrying the ms
ures To percentage, the data shows
that only Isl per cent OF the fires
damaging buildings can be charged
10 the hro hazard Of electricity. or
about one electrical fire 10 every thir-
ty-EiN due To other causes
The annual tre losses OF the Cnituu
States ar" estimated at betNeel
$3.50. 5000 and 5000. 900. 600 or com
paratiVely. as the society points out,
our property losses by tire per capita
IL Fix times that 81 Great Britain.
twelve and "a half times that OF Ger
many. eight and one half times that
OF Austria and more than two and
o.
This tremendous IosH increases each
year. and at tines people who are not
given to a close study of cause. arc
inclined TO say that electricity IS
leading caus" of fires. Generally,
writers on tho topic or fire hazard
roughly estimate the fires caused by
electricity AZ around $ per cent.
In this country wide survey, which
has taken nearly a year Of effort, dur
ing which qu"stionnHires were d.
rected TO every city OF any siSe IN
the country, tho society has definite
Iy fixed the percentages OF fires due
10 electrical origin by classification,
which are vouchcd for by Official fire
departments Of the cities throughout
the country.
1t IL interesting to note that though
! the data assembled represents rec
ords from communities OF only 5000
Inhabitants up to Greater New YORK
with its population Of 5,621 l51, there
is n variation i'll the proportion OF
fires Of electric origin OF only two
thirds Of ] per cent. In other words.
the report shows that the fir" hazard
from electricity Is very nearly the
same in the large as In the small
cities.
The match and cigarette fire haz-
ard Is far more serious than the cleo
trlcal, according to the society's in
vestigation. Reports from ninety
six cities give 700 electrical fires to
4.O23 caused by matches and cigar
cites.
The report Is a testimonial TO the
protection afforded users Of cleo
tricity by the electrical industry from
the contractor who does the wiring OF
the home to the manufacture who
puts out the appliances and the cen
trail station which furnishes the cur
rent for light, heat and power.
II has been custom in many
places to lay many fires OF uncertain
origin to electric causes and TO elias
SHY with electrical fires in buildings,
those fires occurring in vehicles. on
, transmission lines, etc.
An instance Of this inaccurscy is
described In the case Of Chicago Tho
FIRE marshal reported to the society
562 electrical fires out of n total of
l44oT for the year 1919 These fig
ures were referred to the chief in
spector OF gas and electricity OF Chi
cago. and il was found that on'y 10
fires were Of electrical origin and OF
this number sixteen were the burn
ing out Of motors or generators and
six were caused by the short circuits
in automobile wiring, leaving really
only ninety-four fires OF electrical
origin. This left proportion of o.65
per cent of electrical Ares in a city
which has 10.309.517 electric lamps
and more than 500 900 horsepower OF
electric motors. including 1000 600
with irons and other electrical appli-
ances.
The society@ statistics arc compre-
hensive enough to add An interesting
page to the history Of fire hazards
and their causes in this country. 1t
is not difficult to draw from the rec
ords the astonishing fact that the
number of fires by electricity is less
in heavily populated centers than in
sparcely located communities. And
does not this indicate that the uses
Of electricity serves to reduce, not
increase. the number of fires"