Show t q y Continuous Fire Disaster I I r any of the cities of the United State State c S i meet with destruction by y flood fire earth earthquake u qu quake ke or the bombardment by a a ho hostile fleet tu to tc the th extent of with a h heavy avy lo loss of pf f human life lire th the event v nt- nt would be the big ig item i J S Jt 1 ff THE THEof of news and of of df universal universal comment comment for months afterward Should such an event take place annually on sonie some certain date it would be lo looked ked upon as a national c calamity lamity and soon would produce a condition condition condition con con- bordering on a panic as a result of the mere anticipation of the the disaster Yet the losses by fire in this country last ast year approximated half a billion dollars while the attendant destruction of life vas was heavy It is a continuous disaster with fire departments ever everon everon everon on the run throughout tl the days and nights with millions of dollars going up ip in smoke and many of he burned buildings forming funeral pyre pyres for unfortunate nate human b beings ings M Many of these fires of course are un unavoidable voidable void void- able but in a large percentage of cases cases they result from carelessness that is nothing less than criminal Some people might excuse this care- care on the theory that the loss falls faUs upon the insurance companies This is true but to the extent of only so 80 per cent Even if the entire loss was sustained by the insurance companies it would still be a loss to the general public because of heavy taxation and higher costs generally generally generally gener gener- ally to meet mee the added cost of insurance Utah and other Western Western states states' recently observed observed ob oh served fire prevention week in a campaign o of f education for prot protection of the forests where oth the e annual loss is estimated to average not less than and which v are the result as a rule of carelessness s on the part of campers Considering the loss in property and and lives every week should be je e observed as a fire prevention prevention tion week not only in the forests but in ever every y home and business establishment in the country |