208 FIRE PREVENTION IN THE HOME 



and provide an endowment to pay the running expenses 

 of a large college. 



In a year, the money value of fire losses would pay 

 salaries, books, and supplies for all public education in the 

 entire United States for more than half a year. 



Charles W. Baker, in an address entitled " A Street of 

 Desolation," said in speaking of the damage done in a 

 single year that " the buildings consumed, if placed on 

 lots of 65 feet frontage, would line both sides of a street 

 extending from New York to Chicago. A person jour- 

 neying along this street of desolation would pass in every 

 thousand feet a ruin from which an injured person was 

 taken. At every three quarters of a mile in this journey 

 he would encounter the charred remains of a human being 

 who had been burned to death." 



Why are there so many fires ? Are these losses by 

 fire necessary? What causes the fires? Many fires are 

 reported as " cause unknown," but a study of the causes 

 in a large number of other cases shows that the principal 

 cause of fires is CARELESSNESS. No one of us can truth- 

 fully say that he has not been careless about such mat- 

 ters. It is time that we begin a new era of thoughtful, 

 careful attention to the ways and means of safeguard- 

 ing the home, the business houses, and the factories 

 against fire. 



Sources of fires in the home. The cause of about 90% 

 of the fires is carelessness in regard to a few things about 

 the home. Some of the most important things about 

 which we ought to be more careful are : 



a. The use of kerosene and gasoline. 



b. Matches and all uncovered flames. 



c. The heating plant, stove pipes, and chimney. 



