the prolonged heating of wooden construction by near-by steam pipes. Such pipes should be kept at a fair distance from wooden construction and they should, if possible, be jacketed with asbestos.

Exposure to other fires, including conflagrations, is the cause of the greatest loss under partly preventable causes of fire. Fires spread quickly in the mercantile and manu

One of the oldest types used in Boston in 1792. The water was pumped from cisterns by hand.

facturing districts of cities. However, it is possible to prevent such disaster in part by equipping large buildings with wired windows in metal frames, fire shutters, fire doors, and open sprinklers or "fire curtains." Residential property suffers heavily, too, from spreading fires, with less chance of guarding itself from the fires that may start next door.

Spontaneous combustion is a very real cause of fire and not

merely a fancy. For example, damp hay in barns, and even in open stacks, is liable to generate fire. Paint-soaked rags start to burn easily by chemical reaction.

Electricity is the safest form of heat, light, and power, but when not properly installed causes much disaster. Crossed wires is the most common cause of fire from electricity. Broken connections and worn insulation are other causes. By running electric wires through metal conduits to begin with, much of this risk is removed.

Lightning rods on buildings help to prevent fire damage by lightning.

Sparks from machinery cause great fire loss. Much of this loss is due to minor machinery defects which could easily be remedied through careful attention to oiling. Bearings overheated for lack of oil cause many fires.

Sparks from combustion, that is, sparks flying from locomotive stacks, bonfires, forges, and tar heaters, have caused much damage. The attachment of spark arresters on locomotive stacks helps to reduce this loss. Bonfires should be constantly attended to, and rubbish should be burned in metal receptacles.

Miscellaneous known causes of fire include such unrelated hazards as ignited film, burning carbon, slaked lime, hot glass, and molten metal.

Almost any manufacturing process in which dust is thrown off involves the risk of explosion. One sure way of preventing these explosions is to install blower systems to carry off the dust particles and clear the air. Grain elevators and certain other storage buildings are usually the heaviest sufferers from explosions, because their atmosphere is likely to be continuously surcharged with dust. Since dust requires a spark to ignite it, and cause an eruption, smoking and the presence of open flames of any sort should be strictly prohibited in such places. Hundreds of disastrous explosions, bringing fire, occur yearly from the so-called muffler backfiring of automobile engines.

Incendiarism-the act of one who for evil purpose burns property is being vigorously attacked in all parts of the country. At last the loss in this way is being reduced, for the public is learning to view fraudulent fires as a form of crime.

Fire-Fighting Apparatus. Because of our carelessness, however, fires are constantly occurring. Even in isolated

A fast and powerful machine adopted by the New York Fire Department. Contrast this with the little hand power engine on page 118.

sections of our country districts, dangers from fire are apparent. A forest fire may quickly wipe out miles of valuable timber land. Every man in these districts naturally works to check such a fire. In a closely built city the danger from fire is multiplied tenfold. Individual effort is not enough. Community work is necessary.

In the early period of American history, when cities were small, each home owner was required to own his own firefighting apparatus. This consisted of buckets and ladders.

The first call of fire brought each man to the scene with his own equipment. Two lines of men were formed between the source of the water supply and the scene of the fire. Buckets full of water were passed down one of these lines to the burning building, the empty buckets returning on the other line to be refilled.

As the number of houses increased, this primitive method proved too slow. Small hand engines took the place of the bucket lines. These engines were little more than pumps which threw the water short distances. Finally a crude steam fire engine was invented which sent the water a hundred thirty feet. From this small beginning developed the modern fire engine, which can hurl a powerful stream of water many hundreds of feet. Trained men are needed to operate these modern engines, and therefore fire companies or departments are organized in all cities at public expense.

The modern fire department includes other valuable apparatus besides fire engines. Among these are the chemical engines, the scaling ladders, the gas masks, fireboats, and even pulmotors. Constant development is shown along each of these lines. Today most cities have all of their apparatus completely motorized, thereby lessening the time required to reach a fire, and increasing the area which a given fire company can serve.

The Lesson of the Flames. But the real lesson of the flames is that fires may be prevented. It is not enough to spend vast sums on new apparatus. The use of this apparatus is also very expensive. Each alarm sent into headquarters costs about $100. This covers the cost of sending in the message, the use of the fire apparatus, and the pay of the firemen. All this is aside from the value of the property lost by the fire. Fire insurance may cover part of the value of the property destroyed, but it does not replace the property. What it does is to shift some of the cost of the fire on to other people, and thus lessen the loss

to the owner of the property. But the community as a whole must suffer the entire loss by fire, which in this country is so heavy.

The City Helps to Prevent Fire. In the prevention of fire, the city takes the lead. One way that cities prevent fires is to pass building regulations which provide that electric wiring and flues must, before they are inclosed, be approved by public inspectors. Rubbish must be cleared

FREQUENCY OF ACCIDENTS IN CERTAIN INDUSTRIES

During period 1916 to 1919.

away; explosives carefully guarded; moving picture apparatus inclosed in fireproof cabinets. A good fire alarm system must be established and people taught the proper means of reporting all fires. Fire drills must be practiced. Fire walls keep fires from spreading in store or factory. But laws and regulations and inspectors, alone, cannot stop the fires. Fires are prevented by care on your part, as on the part of all others. With the establishment of Fire Prevention Day many cities have carried on Fire Prevention Campaigns to teach this important message to their citizens.