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Show j Home Disasters That Needn't Occur ana j! I Hoiuiio msrmrfl or TtttRMOtooy Ei'ttry -fonr lulnutes throughout the year somewhere In the United States a homo catches Are, and there Is loss of property, If not of Ufa This makes a total of 131,400 residential fires every year, says the Holland Institute of Thermology of Holland, Mich., or the -conflagration of as many houses as there are In BufTalo. N. Y, with a population exceeding half a million. At least three-quarters of these (Ires may be classed as preventable, and chief among the preventable fires are those caused by beutlng plants in need of repair and cleaning. Defective De-fective cblmneya and flues are the third greatest cause of the total fire loss In this country. Stoves, furnaces, fur-naces, boilers and their pipes take fourth place and fires originating originat-ing from sparks on the roof come eighth. Another significant fact Is that In 22 states ' greater loss resulted from one of these three preventable causes than from any other single cause. The national annual fire-loss from these three causes combined is $50,-201,070, $50,-201,070, according to the latest figures fig-ures available. ' A thorough cleaning out of the furnace, fur-nace, pipes and chimneys every year will tend In a large measure to reduce re-duce these losses, says the Institute, and Is, therefore, a civic responsibility responsibil-ity on every householder. By the modern giant power suction vacuum cleaner, all the dirt Is removed from the heating system, and the removal of carbon from the chimney , eliminates elim-inates the possibility of sparks falling fall-ing on the roof. ' At the same time, the whole heating heat-ing and smoke-pipe system Is Inspected Inspect-ed for defects, which, when discovered, discov-ered, may be repaired before they result In disaster. . |