Evening Republican, Volume 21, Number 133, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 13 June 1918 — PREVENT FIRE LOSSES [ARTICLE]

PREVENT FIRE LOSSES

By the U. S. Department of Agriculture

■ Millions of dollars’ worth of agricultural wealth is destroyed by fire each year in the United States. At normal prices and with an average yield it would take the part of the potato crop of the pountry to offset all that is lost annually through fires on farms. This is a dead loss to the nation —for the fact that most individual losers are partially reimbursed by insurance does not in the least reduce the drain on our national resources —and it is a loss that is largely preventable. The problem of fighting or preventing fire in the country districts is a most serious one, for organized fire prevention work such as has been developed to a science in many cities is practically Impossible in the country. Some fires on farms may be unavoidable,«but a great many of them could be prevented by a comparatively small amount of time intelligently applied by the individual farmers in the study of conditions which are likely to cause fire, and by placing simple and inexpensive fire-fighting equipment in convenient places about the farm buildings.

The farmer should study his buildings and their contents from the point of view of the fire inspector of the city, whose sole business is to see all the things that can be done to improve conditions so that fire cannot easily start, and to determine the, best ways of fighting any fires that may start. He should remember that any preventive or protective measures which he may take are for his own benefit, and that protection sufficient to prevent a fire is cheap as compared with the loss entailed by the average farm fire. Every building or set of buildings has certain points which are more susceptible to fires than others, but adequate protection must be provided for the entire premises before the owner can be sure that some weakness due to oversight or neglect will not neutralize the good effect of all the work previously done. Most farmers carry fire insurance on their buildings and contents sufficient partly to repay for any losses that may occur; but this insurance is paid from premiums which are nothing more than a tax collected from the policyholders for this purpose. The loss occasioned by a serious fire is such that very few people can afford to be without fire insurance, but attention of the prevention of fire would result in reducing the number of fires, and, therefore, the rate of premiums necessary to cover the fire losses. This would be felt quickly tn mutual companies which are owned, and managed by the policyholders themselves and in which the premiums are fixed by the actual. losses,