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Show WAS IT YOURS? Youngsters get a thrill out of watching a paper box burn on a bonfire. They love to watch the thick curling smoke and the sudden burst of flame. Their parents could learn a lot from those boxes. Houses burn the same way at the rate of one every other minute. Sixteen people a day are turned from living beings to corpses, in the ashes of these houses. Annual An-nual property loss from dwelling fires exceeds $100,-000,000. $100,-000,000. JUost of this loss in life and property is attributable at-tributable to ignorance and carelessness in the home.. Not long ago in Detroit two boys sharing a second floor bedroom were found dead in the upper hall by firemen responding to an alarm. Their death was wholly unnecessary. Instead of going out the open window to their bedroom, they attempted to flee downi the stairs. They were met by superheated gases of J 1,000 degrees flooding the upper areas of the house. They died instantly. They had never been taught that in a burning house the stairway is usually converted into a flue. And they didn't know that when a bedroom door is hot to the touch, it's a sure sign that it's fatal to open it. The lesson from such a tragedy is obvious. Every family should be familiar with simple precautions that safeguard life in the event of fire, and of greater im- portance, prevent fire from starting. Most fires break out in defective chimneys or in faulty furnaces and heating pipes. Heating systems should be cleaned and checked periodically. Basement, ceilings, and walls should be protected with a double coat of high grade cement plaster on metal instead of wood lathi There should be a clearance between furnace and ceiling of at least 30 inches, with proper insulation of heat pipes which .pass through wooden partitions. 1 While you read this article, somewhere a home was consumed by fire. Was it yours? |