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FIRES. 



Rats and mice cause many fires. Several specific instances have 

 been reported by the fire department of the city of Washington 

 within the past two or three years. It is likely that some of these 

 fires are caused by rats gnawing matches. The animals are fond of 

 paraffin, which is often used to protect match heads. They carry 

 the matches to their nests, which are composed of paper and other 

 combustible materials, and the conditions for a conflagration are 

 ready. Since the heads of matches contain from 14 to 17 per cent 

 of phosphorus, actual gnawing is not required to ignite them, but 

 heat or friction from any cause may suffice. 



Fires in mills or warehouses have sometimes been traced to the 

 spontaneous ignition of oily or fatty rags and waste carried under 

 floors by rats. Cotton and woolen mills are said to be peculiarly 

 subject to fires of this kind. 



Sometimes rats cause fires by gnawing through the lead pipes 

 leading to the gas meter. Workmen or others, searching for the 

 leak, accidentally ignite the gas. Phillips's warehouse, London, was 

 twice badly damaged by fires originating in this way, and in several 

 instances the sleeping inmates of houses have been in danger of 

 asphyxiation by gas freed in this manner. 



The most common way in which rats and mice cause fires is by 

 the destruction of the covering of electric light wires under floors or 

 in partition walls. A considerable percentage of the enormous fire 

 losses in the United States is caused by defective insulation of wires. 

 After wires are once in position rats are the chief agents in impairing 

 the insulation. These animals do much mischief also by gnawing 

 off the coverings of telephone wires. In the case of electric light 

 wires the covering is probably used by the rats for nesting material, 

 but frequently the paraffin in the insulation is the object of attack. 



BUILDINGS AND FURNITURE. 



Rats seem to be able to gnaw through almost any common material 

 except stone, hard brick, cement, glass, and iron; neither wood nor 

 mortar suffice to keep them out of bins or rooms. They sometimes 

 gnaw through walls or doors in a single night. In the same way they 

 enter chests, wardrobes, bookcases, closets, barrels, and boxes. 

 Almost every old dwelling bears evidence of its present or former 

 occupancy by rats. Often the depreciation of houses and furniture 

 is largely due to marks left upon them by rats marks that paint and 

 varnish can not hide. 



Damage to dwellings by rats is a large item. The decay of sills and 

 floors is hastened by contact with moist soil brought up from rat 

 burrows. Ceilings, wall decorations, and floor coverings are flooded 



