Everyone should set up a program of year-round
fire prevention in their homt. Start by cleaning
lessness or neglect can be just as tragic and as de
structive as one set by a "Nero”.
There are hundreds of different causes of fire.
Here is a part of fire’s yearly batting average:
CAUSE
FIRES
LOSS
Smoking and matches ...
95,000
$55,500,000
Misuses of electricity
and
appliances
75,000
82,500,000
Defective heating
equip-
ment
54,000
60,000,000
Careless handling and use of
inflammable liquids
42,000
50,000,000
Defective or overheated chim
neys and flues
30.000
23,000,000
Children playing
with
matches
22,000
8,000,000
Sparks on roofs
21,000
15,000,000
Dwellings bear the brunt of the annual death
rate and property loss due to fire. Last year there
were 282,000 dwellings destroyed by fire com
pared with 33,000 stores and shops, 30,000 manu
facturing plants, 23,000 hotels and rooming houses,
15,000 restaurants and taverns, 4,000 theaters and
amusement halls, 3,000 churches, 3,000 schools and
colleges and 1,400 hospitals and institutions.
The fact that most fires are in the home, and
the fact that most of them are the result of care
lessness or neglect, should be of immediate and
constant concern to everyone. The main causes
can be easily eliminated. Just take off four min
utes to ask yourself these questions about your
home: Are all electrical appliances clean and in
good working order? Are there plenty of ash
trays, and are there matches except safety matches
out the old papers, old clothing and other com
bustible trash from your cellar, attic and closets.
in the house? Do any appliances or lamps have
frayed wires? Has the furnace been cleaned and
inspected since the last heating season? Do kitch
en ranges and oil stoves work well? Is there a
metal container for furnace or stove ashes? Is there
a screen for the fireplace? Are the chimneys
clean? Is the house protected by asphalt shingles
or other fire resistant roofing? Is there any com
bustible rubbish hidden away in the basement, the
attic or closets? Are there explosive cleaning
fluids in the house?
The National Fire Protection Association re
ports that there is an "epidemic” of fires in rural
areas. Since many of us live in a rural area and a
long way from local fire departments, we should
be doubly careful about fire hazards in our homes
and other buildings. Improper electrical wiring is
the cause of a large number of rural fires. This is
due to the fact that in many instances unqualified
persons have been employed to install house and
barn wires and electrical equipment. The careless
use of matches, however, is still the number one
hazard in rural fires.
The information that has been given will dent
the minds of very few people. Most of us are just
too confident that fire is going to hit the other
fellow—never us. Thousands of other people have
been just as confident, but statistics and tomb
stones prove they were wrong.
We have the power, individually and collective
ly as part of the company and community team,
to prevent the majority of all fires. We have the
power, individually and collectively, to make our
plant and community firesafe.
We have an obligation to ourselves, our fam
ilies, our company, our community and our coun
try to be a member of the fire defense team.