The Bozeman courier. (Bozeman, Mont.) 1919-1954, 1926-10-29
half FIRE DEATHS
OCCUR IN HOUSES
Capable Housekeeping Is
Main Prevention, Says
Underwriters Board.

New YOrk.-Every three minutes,
statisticians assert, there is a cry Of
Fire" in somebody's home IN the
United States. The fire bell clangs in
the stiffness Of the night or in the
din of the day. The engines siren
shrieks. Sometimes the excitement is
soon over and little damage is done;
but often the results are serious and
tragic. Millions Of dollars worth of
property is destroyed each year. More
than half of the $1,000 annual human
toll Of fire is taken in the home.
Origins OF fires are various. A
prOwling kitten upsets a box Of
matches; the matches faIl on a
lighted stove and ignite a dish towel
drying nearby, spreading thence to
the woodwork and so through the
house. More often a careless house
wife has let rubbish accumulate in her
attic or her cellar, or has used gaso-
line In the kitchen to clean an old
dress OF kerosene to quicken a slow
hre. Perhaps she went away for the
day without disconnecting her electric
iron; or allowed the baby to play with
a box Of matches. Frequently a care
less smoker losses a lighted match out
against the window awning or into q
yard Of dry unmOwed grass.
A negligent builder may be at fault.
Not long ago a Midwesterner was
warned that his new chimney was
dangerous because it was ained with
sewer tile instead Of with fire clay.
But before he complied with the fire
chiefs demolition order, fire Originat-
Ing in the chimney destroyed the
house. .
Wood Shingles and Defective Flues.
When the fire engines rushed down
the street and the excitement-lOving
pedestrian hurries after 1t, he may be
rewarded for his pains by finding only
a chimney on fire." This, no doubt,
strikes him as pretty tame; yet the
average annual loss from this cause
In the last five years has exceeded
100000. It is possible to build
chimneys in a hundred wrong ways
and the builder too often selects one
Of these. Again, chimneys that are
correctly built may not be kept clean.
Defective chimneys and hues come
first on the National Board Of Fire
Underwriters list Of causes Of dwell
ing-hOuse fires, being responsible for
IL per cent of the total.
The "shingle jungle" at its densest
in certain outlying parts Of Greater
New York where bOxlike houses are
closely packed together, is another
major offender. Sparks on wood
single roofs are held accountable for
more than 8 per cent Of the fires In
dwellings. Next come stoves, fur
naces, boilers and their pipes, guilty
because often they are improperly
placed and not properly insulated.
More than 7OO,O0O.OO0 matches are
struck a day In the United States
almost 100000 a minute. Every
lighted cigarette and every waste
basket, when the two meet, write
catastrophe.
Garage Worst Offender.
Petroleum and its products are re-
sponsible for 5 per cent OF household
fires. OH stoves are often knocked
over; many are improperly operated.
But the garage is the worst offender
Of all. 1t is held responsible for the
increase in late years Of fires laid to
petroleum and its products.
The total annual fire loss, when
averaged out among all the dwelling
house fires, would. it is said, be suf-
hcient to provide enough $4,000
houses to take care Of the population
of cities the size Of Bridgeport Day
ton or Dallas.
The good ~hOusekeeper sees that
stoves and pipes are properly In
stalled; that kitchen curtains are out
OF reach Of a flames; that drying
clothes are not hung too near the
stove. She sees to It that the living.
room fire is entirely out before the
family goes to bed and that ashes and
oily rags T kept in metal cans. She
takes no chances. A really good
housekeeper, the National Board Of
Fire Underwriters notes. stands little
chance Of being among the home fire
victims.
The beauty Of precautiOn Is that
Ike most habits, It may readily be
come second nature. Thus may loss
Of life and property be reduced with
out any really ~appreciable expendi
ture OF effort.