Evening Republican, Volume 21, Number 145, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 27 June 1918 — FOOD RESERVES AND FIRE HAZARDS. [ARTICLE]

FOOD RESERVES AND FIRE HAZARDS.

The food administration issues the following statement of fire hazards in rural districts and the importance st safeguarding the nation’s food sup plies against this danger: The season is at hand when farmers are to fII their barns with hay and grain. This period when barns, granaries and storehouses contain the greatest amount of food supplies Is also the time when they are most liable to fire destruction. Farmers are the only large handlers of food supplies upon whom the government depends, entirely without supervision by inspectors, to guard their holdings against losses by fire; and in view of the supreme importance of guarding this season’s stored crops, farmers are asked to consider destruction or .spoilage of food through fire as a misfortune to the Nation and the allies as well as a perSonal loss to the holder. Prominent among the many sources of fire in rural districts are" lightning, defective flues and stoves, spontaneous combustion, carelessness with matches, incendiarism and sparks from chimneys and locomotives. Effective means of fire prevention and control are understood by the majority of property owners, but particular attention is called to the importance of removing Inflammable trash from the vicinity of buildings and to adequate equipment in ladders and buckets when more modern equipment for extinguishing fires Is lacking. Properly installed systems of lightning rods and conductors are suggested as protections against lightning. The paramount thought Is to save from loss not only farm buildings, but the food and feed they contain. \