Show Fire Pro Protection Scheme j l Changed by Motorization j Fire protection systems organized when horses drew the apparatus and took three times as long to get to a alire a lire Ure a mile from tram the station may be revised with profit in this motor motorized zed era The Providence R. R I. I governmental governmental govern govern- mental research bureau makes this thi 1 comment in a current report on the I city's fire department adding that the next few ew years will probably see ace seea acea a revolutionary change in fu city fire dep department organization in the way of reducing the number of itati stations ns and arid o c-o companies Providence which won the United States Chamber of oC Commerce aw award d i ifor for the lowest fire loss in 1933 spends 6 1599 per square mile for fire protection protection protection pro pro- nearly three t times more than does docs the average city its size Nevertheless Nevertheless Never- Never i the bureau is of the opinion that the same results could probably j i ibe be achieved with l less s expenditure by j 1 properly relocating fire stations and coverage b by the fire com corn j panics 7 1 Providence has more fire stations in proportion to its area and pop population la- la tion than any other comparable city There is one engine company for every ev laJ J ery people while the av average aver average aver aver- x- x age for 22 comparable cities clUes is one cne oneto oneto to every According to standards standards stand- stand A ards of Che he national board of fire lire J underwriters two-thirds two of the city's s' s t i 1 J Jmiles area of approximately 18 square miles is unnecessarily overlapped by t two or more engine companies 1 Eighteen of oC the present 30 fire stations sin sta- i 1 in Providence were lo located ale f more than tha-n 40 years ago when hors horse horse it J drawn fire engines were supposed 10 to f f- f cover a it k radius of one mile in a thickly thick- thick ly settled residential district A radius radius ra ia ra- ra dius of or one and one half miles is considered considered con I standard for motor-drawn motor ap ap ap- The bureau which recommends recommends recommends' that the c city ty employ qualified ei engineers engineers engi engi- to relocate the fire Ire stations points out that if the number of f. f companies can be reduced the i size of the force might still remain th tb the same thus increasing the man power at each station to standard number Boston's municipal research bure bureau tf in a recent study recommended cutting cut cutS ting down the number of ot fire c com companies ponies from 84 to 76 Th The national l. l board of fire underwriters underwrIters' has b been en asked to make a special survey of ot the city's fire hazards hazards' to dete deter determine mine whether the reduction can b be made without impairing fire pro ice tion |