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Show 30,000 Fires from a New Form of Carelessness A new form of fire peril is coming com-ing into prominence as a cause of much destruction, and its fires are so directly associated with carelessness that it has been deemed necessary to issue a special warning to the people of the United States. Because of their convenience, small electric devices, such as pressing irons, curling irons, toasters, electric pads or blankets, electric plate warmers, and electric sterilizers or heaters are now to be found in almost every community. If these were used with proper care the danger would be negligible, but, unfortunately, un-fortunately, a proportion of their users does not realize the peril of leaving them in circuit when not in use. In such cases these devices tend to be come overheated, whereupon ihey are likely to set fire to anything combustible combu-stible with which they are in contact. Most of these fires are small, . ut the aggregate loss is large, and occasional occa-sional instances show extensive damage, dam-age, as in the case of the $350,000 fire in the Boston residence of Ex-Governor Draper; this was traced to an electric plate warmer in the butler's pantry. Fires of this class furnish a special peril to life, being most frequent indwellings in-dwellings and often breaking out at night. A characteristic example is that in which an electric pressing iron is left upon the ironing board, with the current turned on, and then forgotten. In such a case the fire may not occur until some nouis lai-r. The burning of the residence of John Wanamaker, several years ago, was due to an electric prissing iron. That this form of hazard is already assuming large proportions appears from the statistics. For example, the Actuarial Bureau of the National Board of Fire Underwriters in one day noted approximately one hundred hun-dred reports of fires from this cause, out of a total of two thousand losses in the day's reports, and it estimates that small electrical devices are causing fires at the rate of 30,000 or more in the course of a year. It is safe to say that most of these fires are entirely preventable, and can be charged to nothing but carelessness on the part of the user. Various "safety" devices have been added by certain of the manufacturers of these articles, and among them are some that are fairly effective, but there is one absolute precaution which should be borne in mind at all times by every user, namely, that of shutting shut-ting off the current when not personally person-ally and continuously supervising the use. |