English Fire Chiefs.
The following data is taken from our namesake in London: During 1891 the Glasgow Brigade responded to 539 calls for actual fires, and in addition turned out to 86 false alarms, 21 of which were given with malicious intent. Thirty-five fires which took place outside the city are included in the foregoing total. Compared with the previous year’s returns these figures represent an increase of in fires. This increase, Mr. Paterson points out, cannot be accounted for by the extended area of the city, as since November I only thirteen fires have occurred in the newlyadded districts. Two of 1 he city fires resulted in serious loss; 315 were attended by firemen with engines, etc., and tile remainder were of a very trifling nature. Further statistics show that 380* fires were extinguished with hand-pumps or buckets, 104 with one line of hose, and only three required more than ten lines of hose. An estimate of the fire loss in the city during the year placed the value of property destroyed at £1 to.ooo, but no particulars are given of the amount at risk,
Glasgow yet maintains that unenviable notoriety to which we have had occasion to refer in previous years, namely, the large percentage of its fires due to faulty building construction. Statistics appended to the report give a total of 168 fires directly attributed to the remissness of builders and contraetors, who are also responsible for the extent of many more fires.
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