Evening public ledger. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1914-1942, 1921-10-07
GEORGE W. ELLIOTT
On Fire Prevention

LN1RE. E.PREVENTION DAY should be
i made one of the most important days of
the entire calendar, according to Fire Mar
shal George w. Elliott. because it is Il day
which, if properly observed and its lessons
taken to heart. will have a beneficial inhu.
rnCe upon the lives and the poCketbooks of
the whole American people.
Fire Prevention Day. said Marshal
Elliott, falls on October . each year. but
this year, as the 9th is on Sunday, it will
be observed on Monday. October TO- The
date was fixed in order to commemorate the
anniversary of the great Chicago fire of 1871.
The day Is each year becoming more and
more generally observed. The" President OF
the United States. the Governors of many
Of the States. including our own, and the
Mayors of most of the great cities, again in
Guiding Philadelphia. have issued proclama-
tions calling upon the citizens to observe the
day. in an endeavor to get the citizens to
cooperate in fire prevention.
The annual fire losses in the United
States have grown to such tremendous CX
tent that at last there seems to be an
awakening of public interest in this mo.
mcntous problem. The National Ash Pile,
as It has been we'll termed, has now grown
to $500 900 900 year.
"Of this enormous total, Philadelphia s
contribution last year was $4,000, 900, rc-
sulting from 1866 fires as against $301S,345
in 1919 and S3,9l1 $50 in 1913.
Most Fires Preventable
''Of the 1855 fires in Philadelphia in the
last year, it is conserVatively estimated that
the causes of fully 80 per cent of them were
easily within the control of the HOUSEHOLDER
the business man and the factory owner. OF
the remaining 40 per cent, there is not the
slightest doubt that goodly number may
be cassed as crooked fires; that is, where
there was a deliberate fraud practiced upon
the public.
Fire prevention aims chiefly at the pre-
6 Grny y.ht t,h
carelessncss on the part of the citizens rather
than those which are caused by design or
intent, and at the enforcement of laws and
ordinances in the matter of building erection
and occupancy. Then, too, an effort which
nav not be entirely within the scope of fire
every citizen of the United States may be
brought to realize the enormous per capita
cost of the fire waste.
In Philadelphia, based on a population
of 1928 900. the per capita loss last yeas
was SAT-. and this, 1t must be remembered
is a loss in created values which had to be
replaced. This loss of SAT- per person In
this city does not include the per capita cost
Of fire protection or suppression, by which /
mean the cost Of maintaining the fire de-
partmcnt, the cost of water and the many
other items which enter into the extinguish-
ment of fires.
This per capita fire waste is direct tax
upon each Of our citizens, and if the Phila =
delphia loss is very heavy the cost Is felt by
the citizens of the whole United States as
we'll.
when ] say a direct tax / mean that
everything we use, everything we eat and
everything we buy has figured into it as Il
part of the cost Of production, this amount
to cover the cost of fire waste. Therefore
the matter of fire prevention has come to be
an economic problem which must be con :
sidered seriously In the economic life of the
Nation.
Must Pay the Price
THE citizens Of Philadelphia must
awaken to thf fact tnat they cannot have
3Gl fires n year resulting from the careless
use of cigars and cigarettes. S4l fires each
year resulting from the careless use of
matches, 2l2 fires every year caused by mis-
chievOus boys and 100 fires each year re-
sulting from rubbish without paying the
cost of them. and that cost Is high.
"Aa direct evidence of the CureleSSnoss
life and the huge part which 1t plays in the
great national fire waste, reference need
only be made to the tubulatiOn of the origin
of the various fires in this city.
This table shows very Clcurly the Dart
which SCOT il chimnCys and unClcunly f1uos
play in the years fire record. 1t shows thnt
fires from SCOT increase month by month
from one in the month of August to twenty. Il.
five in the month of January. and that
similarly, fires from defective chimncyS in.
crease from one in the month of August tn
sixteen in the month oi January. From this
it Is easy to recognize that if the chimneys
were cleaned properly, as they should be
during the warm weather, a large proper
tion, II not all. of these fires would have
Geep prevented, .....
'Fire always has its oriEjn at some mar