Indiana daily times. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1914-1922, 1921-06-28
20 PER CENT OF
HOUSES IN CITY
FIRE HAZARDS
Inspection Shows Need Of
Cleaning Up Premises to
Avert Disastrous Blaze.
BY LEILA r. CHEsLNE.
Assistant state>Efre Marshal.

Assistant state>Eire Marshal.
With the completion by Captain Mar
tin P. Judd and twenty two city hrenen.
of the special inspection of property for
fire hazards, the city Of Indianapolis IS
| brought face to face with the fact that
one-ffth Of the residences are harboring
trash and rubbish of such nature as to
make their premises not alpne unsightly,
| but unhealthy and highly infammab1e.
| Not all homes were enteredl as this
would have taken more time than could
be spared by the regular city nremen
| but enough to give a very good idea Of
the conditions to be met and oyersome
before the ambition Of the Fire Proven
ton Committee of the Indianapolis Cham
Der of Commerce can be realized
4 Captain Judd, whose men averaged
| 1000 inspections a day, has turned over
/ to Jacob h. Hilkene, chief of the Fire Pre-
vention Bureau, the number of inspections
as II, 1875 of which 1854 were given clean
up orders.
Some of these notices were necessary in
order to call attention to the careless
habit into which we have gotten and to
sound the warning before the fire occurs.
! The inspectors were received with cour-
! tesy and we have every reason to believe
that further cooperation will follow.
/ However the premises where orders were
issued will be reinspeeted at the end Of
/ the time allowance, which IS thirty days
in most cases. and If necessary In order
to protect residents and their neighbors
from fire, prosecutions VIII follow. When
properly understood, the work of these
men is invaluable and is so considered by
the greater number of Indianapolis citi-
zens, or the other four-ffths who have
gotten rid of their rubbish or better still;
/ have never allowed it to accumulate. But
, the need Of continued effort along the
/ line begun, Is apparent andiit was never
the intention of the committee to close the
campaign until the goal is reached and
/ Indianapolis is known near and far as
clean, safe, healthy and beautiful
city"
While Frank c. Jordan, chairman OF
| the Indianapolis Chamber OF Commerce
/ fire prevention committee, was in the
| east recently, both the national board OF
underwriters of New York and the Ma
tional Fire Protection Association Of
! Boston, assured him they had never
seen the work taken up in any better
spirit than is manifested here in In
| dianapolis. notwithstanding that Detroit,
Philadelphia and many other cities have
inaugurated this cleanup, fire preven-
ton campaign, and because we are alive
on the subject and are doing our part,
| these two organizations are sending out
bulletin citing Indianapolis as an
/ example and a pace setter for other
cities to follow, and are willing to spend
/ their money to send men here, men who
are thoroughly conversant with the sub
! ject, to give US the information that VIII
not only help us to save ourselves but
! help to save our NATION. The fire tax OF
$1,000. 600 per day, can only be reduced
/ by the intelligent work of every citizen,
I as 81 per cent Of all fires are due to
somebody's carelessness.
! W. E. Mallalieu in delivering an adj
dress recently in San Franehsao said
'Our citizens grow up with the Hrneil
/ Of smoke in their nostrils and the clang
Of the fire gong in their ears We av-
erage practically one fire every minute,
day and night, three hundred and sixty
/ five days in the year and take It mora
or less in matter of course Then he
proceeded to point out the cause of this
indifference. 1.-THE average citizen never
thinks Of fire at all. but merely thinks
Of fires" he said. He remembers having
seen fire on his way to the Office that
morning and he reads Of another fire in
the paper but they seem to be individual
and uneonnected, things not to be an
! ticipated or remembered for long. Fire
is not just fires; it is the sum total of
| all fires plus the conditions physical and
psychological, which makes fires peg
sible.' {
The Astuarial Bureau, a National stat
/ tistical Center gives out the loss esti-
mated by comparing the complete records
Of the same twenty states for 1919 and
1920 as $25s. 49,. 319 and S404 81, 5ss. We
must help to curb this drainage on our
nations wealth.
There will be fire prevention meeting
| for the public this evening on the eighth
/ floor of the Chamber of Commerce build
1 ing on Meridian street, when T. Alfred
Fleming, supervisor Of conservation de-
partment, of New York will speak. Mr..
Fleming viii stop on his way east from
the National Fire Prevention meeting in
/ san Francisco and being a forcefuI
| speaker and having the latest word in
| fire prevention deserves a large audience
The public is urged to attend,