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Show THE CITIZEN 4 A Day With The Salt Lake rs Fighting fire is grim business.. Since the dawn of civilization, and since mankind deserted the prehistoric caves of his forebears, i i Ninth West, near the state fair grounds. Besides the on First South street, between State and Second East, y Station No. 2 on Second West, Station 3 at Twelfth Eastl st South, Station 4 at I and Fourth avenue ; Statii South and Eleventh East, and Station 6 at Eighth Sout street. Each fire station is the home of a company, make up the fire fighting brigade of the city. In the matter of equipment the local fire stations those of the first class. They have installed all the moden tgft ing apparatus usually found in a city of the first raj the modern fire fighting engines now in use by the q machines built by the local depart PSP monster the direction of Chief Bywater the local fire boys have several hose cars and are now engaged in building a con S3&' car and engine of light construction to be used ext Mi extinguishing grass fires. The manner of the constructioi ment of these fire fighting monsters and subsidiary cars, W home organization, would require a story in detail, if to be fully and comprehensively treated. Suffice it to si SSI rank among the most modern and efficient fire fighting RtS of these modern times and they were built in Salt Lai the most part at the Central station while 95 per cent of tion believed that the firemen were either sleeping in theSv polishing engine brass, mending hose or playing FCx; antly awaiting the next call to duty. it th The total value of Salt Lake's fire department, fa jd estate, paraphernalia, apparatus, etc., stands at $276,266, j to inventory figures of 1921, value of the real esta: placed at $135,000. Salaries paid in 1921 reached the tot 3 5 363.40 with a total expenditure for the department, inclti new equipment, etc., of $176,694.27. This item also inclif of the new fire station on the west side and maintenance eight months. Based on a population of 130,000, Salt Lake had in of 18,000 brick and stone structures and 30,500 built ofvjhelp t was a property valuation of $16,159,101.24 involved inttions with $9,953,071.35 covered by insurance. During the yaUions erty loss was $587,059.18 insured, with $90,717.63 unit f thc total of $677,776.63. This was at the rate of $5.21 per cafjcanc lation; at the rate of 4.194 per cent of property involven due per cent of insurance involved. There was a total oflfey hi during the year, 935 of which resulted in actual fires and apprehensions. The average loss per fire during the year Buildings involved in fire calls during 1921 totaled , A Fire-Fighte- and took to fashioning rude huts for shelter, this grim business has gone on. With the progress of man through the ages, with the advance in the science of fabricating planning and building, from the days of the thatched roof shanty to the present modern domicile and the distinctively American skyscraper, the fire hazard has not only kept pace it has grown in alarming proportions. The United States has, more or less complacently, been engaged the past five years in burning up property at the astounding rate of $334,544,535 every calendar year, according to the National Board of Fire Underwriters, after a painstaking study and tabulation of more than three million fires. The total loss for one year would be sufficient to construct 334,000 dwellings, according to these same insurance authorities enough homes to house 1,700,000 persons in other words enough homes to house the entire population of a fair sized state. Perhaps not more than five per cent of the total population of Salt Lake, is familiar with facts and figures covering the detailed work and accomplishments of the Salt Lake fire department. For this reason the editor of The Citizen recently took ia day off and devoted the same to a study of fire hazards as typified by the local organization under the leadership of Fire Chief W. H. By water, solely in the interest of the 95 per cent that remains uninformed. Efficiency is a relative computation; with nothing on which to base a comparison efficiency naturally becomes more or less an ephemerial equation, Happily, in relation to fire fighting especially in the larger cities of the country there is ample data upon which to base such relative computation, and since the year 1917 the fire department of Salt Lake has operated at the lowest per capita cost of population in the whole United States. This distinctive economic status was accorded the Salt Lake fire department in the year 1917 and has held over during subsequent annual operations. At this juncture a word in praise of Chief Bywater and his able assistant, Walter J. Knight, may not be amiss. The Citizen is always averse to eulogizing public servants for doing their duty ; but in the case of the fire department, a vital adjunct of the city administration, entirely and successfully divorced from the commission form of government, is encountered. It stands alone. It has made history for Salt Lake. It has carried the fame of the city to distant lands. It has done all this under the guidance and direction of Chief Bywater then kindly permit us this diversion and permit us to say that no department of the city government is so worthy of the confidence of the citizens, so deserving of their undivided support and allegiance, than the fire department, as it has been built and rounded out into a 100 per cent organization by this same Chief Bywater. Chief Bywater has been connected with the fire fighting brigades of Salt Lake City since their infancy. More than forty years ago he was numbered among those who also ran in the volunteer companies of that long ago period. He took his turn with others at fire engines of the laborious task of manipulating the hand-powthe day and wore his red flannel shirt and spiked helmet with the same pride and nonchalance as the most astute and honored citizen of the then struggling commonwealth. For upwards of twelve years he has been the guiding star of the city's paid fire department. He has seen it grow from a one station affair to the proportions of a metropolitan department, operating six modern stations and fully equipped with the latest gasoline driven fire fighting apparatus. This much for one man let the records tell the rest : Salt Lake has six fire fighting stations in operation, at present, with the early promise of another new station at Second North and t ty-fir- 5 ill gas-power- ed , : than buildings, 539; not fire calls, 194. caliemei Seventy-thre- e telephone, 266 were fire box calls and 30 were catalogitstern calls. The fire companies traveled a total of 3,364 mitef stref year in answering fire and other calls, used up 1,874 gall icals, laid 179,300 feet of hose, spent 669 hours and actual fighting service and strung out 5,332 feet of bMtheir ; tion shows that there were 120 false alarms and 74 alain of the cc as unnecessary. How'd you like to be the fireman? $ 4 er Type of Modern Sub-Fir- e Station at Eighth1 South and P0 - i t |