The Dawson news. (Dawson, Ga.) 1889-current, 1925-10-06
TAKE TERRIBLE
TOLL IN UNITED STATES
BLAZES EACH YEAR KILL 49,
600, CRIPPLE 1900 AND DE-
STROY MUCH PROPERTY.
THE COUNTRY'S WORST FOE

age Every Twelve Months, Is the
Warning Given at Beginning of
Fire Prevention Week.
Crush the fire demon! Stamp out
the fiery fend that takes toll of 15,-
600 lives and half a billion dollars
worth of property in the United States
each year!
Save America from its worst eco
nomic foe, the menace that is its
greatest bar to economic happiness
and prosperity, that puts crepe upon
the doors of thousands of American
homes that otherwise would be castles
Of happiness!
Fire Prevention Week Here.
That is the cry that is now going
the length and breadth of the land,
National fire prevention week, time
of a war of propaganda against the
fire hend is at hand. Beginning Sun
day, October 4th and continuing un-
til October 10th, the whole United
States is turning its attention 10 its
most cruel enemy
From proclamations by President
Coolidge and by Governor Walker in
Georgia, all the way down to plain,
but to the point, little speeches of
school teachers to their pupils and in
the form of tons OF literature will
range the campaign against fire in
America.
Fire, statistics show is the worst
peace time foe of America.
Fires occur in American homes at
the rate of 6l8 every "a hours-a fresh
outbreak every three minutes. AT least
three out of four are needless, for they
are due to carelessness and ignorance
both correctible.
Homes destroyed by fire each year,
even if they cost $4,000 each, would
be sufficient TO house the citizens OF
city the size of Bridgeport, Conn;
Dayton, O., or Dallas, Tex.
Last year not less than $4,000 Amer
Iicans-one every half mnute-lost
their lives in fires, and 1900 others
were crippled. Hundreds of these Grip
pies now are unable to earn a living
and must become public charges.
Yearly Toll Increasing.
The yearly toll, financially, of fires
I is steadily increasing. In 1927 it stood
at $485, 100000 while the toll last year
is estimated by experts to have been
$54S, 100000, the greatest in the his
tory of the nation.
This enormous sum-more than
half a billion dollars-is an average
daily. toll of $l,503,362. 1t would have
paid more than two-thirds of the per-
sona1 income tax in 1924 1t would
have been sufficient to eliminate 1917
perilous railroad grade crossings.
There are other indirect results of
fires, too. If an industrial plant is de-
stroyed hundreds, perhaps thousands,
of men and women are thrown out OF
work
To maintain paid fire department
: costs any city millions of dollars To
protect themselves from the ravages
/ of flames New Workers alone spend
100000 year, it is estimated. Less
er, but still considerable, sums are ap-
propriated by other cities each year
Six Main Danger Points.
Experts have found six main danger
points around which most of the
thousands of fires in the United States
begin. They are: Defective chimneys
and fues, with an annual loss of $780,,
991 ,288; sparks on roofs, $3l, 1884 !;
stoves, furnaces, boilers and their
pipes, S24, 348,965; matches and smok-
! ing, $19,129,382; petroleum and its
products, $16,423,245.
The annual loss from fires is great
err in the United States, reliable fig
ures show, than in any other country
in the world. Carelessness and igno-
rance, experts declare, are to blame.
If the people were educated in means
to prevent fires, it is declared the an
nual toll could be cut in halt.
Why is this campaign?
Because every time a minute IS tick
ed off in the United States property
valued at 81 900 or more is belched in
to the sky in the form OF flames and
smoke. At the end of every "a hours
this country is poorer by 81, 5O0,O00.,
Each year $4,000 persons in the
United States are burned to death and
II 900 more are crippled by fire.