Topeka’s Fire Chief Recommends Improvements

Topeka’s Fire Chief Recommends Improvements

The budget which has been submitted by Chief George O. Wilmarth, of Topeka, Kansas, calls for an appropriation of $74,135.82 for 1914, and an additional sum of $25,380 for the erection, equipment and maintenance of a new fire building for station No. 1, in North Topeka. A number of interesting items in the fire chief’s budget make unusual requirements for the coming year. The chief states that the fire alarm telegraph service is becoming out of shape and will have to be repaired. This alarm system has been in use in the city for thirty-one years and it has been a duty of the department to keep this in working order day and night throughout the year, a task that grows more nearly impossible each year. The chief strongly recommends a motor fire apparatus for the fire department, stating that motors have shown themselves superior in many ways to the old horse-drawn apparatus. In making his estimates for the coming year, the chief has had to figure the possible cost of commodities a year ahead, has had to foresee possible accidents, and prepare for a certain amount of sickness and injury to men. His experience makes it possible for him to do this with remarkable accuracy.

During the month of July the Spokane, Wash., fire department was called out 92 times. Eleven of the calls were false alarms and 26 were grass and brush fires. The estimate of property damage for the month is $19,500.