LOSSES BY FIRE.

Taranaki Daily News, 2 November 1922, Page 8

LOSSES BY FIRE.

CALENDAR YEAR FIGURES. APPROACHING WORLD RECORD. In his annual report on the fire brigades of the Dominion, the inspector, Mr. T. Hugo, states that the total number of calls received throughout the 35 constituted fire districts for 1921-22 was 1119, a.s against 1168 for 1920-21* Of the 531 fires, 9 are reported as due to incendiarism, 11 as having occurred on unoccupied premises, and 176 as of unknown origin. Of the total fires 213 occurred in dwelling houses, 29 resulting in total loss, 28 damage to the extent of from 50 to 90 per cent., and 27 to the extent of 25 to 50 per cent. In the remaining 129 cases the damage ranged from slight loss to 25 per cent. The total fire loss throughout the fire districts for the year ended June 30, 1922, amounted to £183,619, as against £394,704 for the previous year, a decrease of £211,085. The three heaviest districts losses occurred' in Auckland (£24,819), Hamilton ( £23,530), and Dunedin (£l-8,442). The insured loss throughout the Dominion for the year ended December 31, 1921, amounted to £'765,310. This exceeds by nearly £200.000 the loss for 1917 (£5/8,021), the heaviest annual loss of previous years. The proportion of the loss throughout the fire districts for the. corresponding ]2 months, amounted to £253,8-87.

"At -a conservative estimate,” continues the report, “ the fire waste for 1921 amounted to £900.000, or 14s. 9d. per head of population, which must be approaching a world record for individual fire loss in any country under normal conditions. The loss was widely distributed, for although there were several rather' severe warehouse fires, no conflagation or particularly disastrous fire occurred during the 12 months. It is to he regretted that more of the 'business firms owning large warehouses or stores do not in their own interest recognise th’e value of. and instal in their premises, one of the several reliable systems of automatic fire alarms and sprinklers which are universally recognised as most efficient safeguards, and provide a nearly certain immunity from heavy loss in the case of internal outbreaks of fire. A large rebate in premium is allowed by insurance companies in the case of buildings fitted with approved automatic alarms and sprinklers, to the extent that the amount of the rebate is in some cases sufficient to cover or nearly cover interest on the capital cost of the installation. Thus it would cause little or no hardship if the Government, in the common interest and 1o reduce the drain on the national wealth caused by such heavy fire losses, wore to make compulsory the installation of automatic safeguards in buildings of certain descriptions or over a certain size, as is now being done in other countries. “Considerably more than half the population protected by the brigades of the Dominion are resident in the 35 constituted fire districts, and it is a reasonable assumption that the value of the property at risk in the said districts is in the same or even higher ratio. The returns prove that the efficiency of the fire prevention work during the past, 12 months of the brigades operating under the Fire Board system of cbntrol has been very satisfactory.”