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Show Careful Check Of Heating System Urged By Farm Aid "With cold weather approaching, approach-ing, your heating equipment should be checked and conditioned condi-tioned for safe winter service," warns Prof. Joseph Coulam. Utah State Agricultural College extension agricultural engineer. Fire strikes without warning and it is not particular where or whose property it destroys, he added. You cannot afford to give it a chance. At least 90 per cent of the $90,000,000 annual an-nual farm fire loss could be prevented. The National Safety Council points out that during the heating heat-ing season defective chimneys rank high as a cause of farm fires. Repair cracks or other defects de-fects and replace justed or burned burn-ed out stove pipes, Prof. Coulam advised. See that combustible materials are protected or a safe distance dis-tance from hot surfaces. Use a metal or asbestos floor covering cover-ing under wood or coal burning stoves. Use double metal ventilated venti-lated thimbles where stovepipes pass through frame walls or partitions. Farm fires are also started by sparks on roofs. A spark arrest-or arrest-or on your chimney will eliminate elimi-nate this risk. Such hazard can also be reduced by installing fire-retarding roofing. Other farm fires are due to the misues of petroleum and its products. Every time you use gasoline, kerosene, or tractor fuel to start or hasten a 'fire you invite disaster. Don't gamble gam-ble with leaky connections, defective de-fective equipment, or poor judgment judg-ment on kerosene stoves or oil burning furnaces, the extension specialist advised. Tank heaters, feed heaters, or any other type of heating equipment equip-ment around your farmstead should also be checked carefully. See that they are in good condition con-dition and installed safely. Defective De-fective tank heaters, or installations instal-lations too close to buildings, straw or other inflammable materials ma-terials lead to many costly winter win-ter fires. |