d very decided step in the Iiistory of civilisiith of fire, but though ii uscful serv:iiit, firc is a dnngcrous nliister, and tlie iiicrciised nsc of fire in ull forins tins let1 of iiecessit.p, with tlie atlviiiicc of cirilisiitcioii, to tlic iidoptioii of timiis for figlitiiig thc uncontrollctl nctioii of fire.
It is interesting to glance iit tlie losses iirisiiig froin fire, as sho\vii 1)y t,hc insiiriiiice stritistics. In tlic United Kiiigdoni firc loss diiring tlie period of tcii yenrs amo~iiitcd to fS0,595,000 ; this docs not include t,lic tliousnnds of fires wlicre tdie damage ainouiitcd to less tliiiii a thousnnd poiiiids per fire. In the Inst two y.enrs of tlic pcriotl under review, the losses were fl2,878,000 ant1 f14,GlG,000 respectively, ciiiioiint.~ fnr in escess of iiny of the earlier totals during t,he sninc period. The loss of life amounted t,o 7,027, witli arlclit.ioniil tlioiisiinds iiiiiiined riiitl injured.
In Anierica conilitioiis iire CWII worse. In the reiir 1926 it8 is estiinntctl that over 14.,OOO persons were biinicd to dentli niid 16,000 injured by fire ill t,Iie United States. Of these, SOY;, were of tlie tlcpcndcnt class--tliat is, inotlicrs, cliildren, sick in Iiospitnls, ctc. Tlie prcliminiiry cstiiiintc of the fire loss in the Uuitcd States lor 1926 is over 570 millioii dolliirs--.tlint is, over :I tlioiisnnd tlolliirs a minute tliroiiglioiit t.lic year. Over GOYo of the fires tiikcs p1;icc in liomcs, iiiicl it, is intcrcstiilg to follo\v the i i t i a l y ~~~ of fire cat~ses, :is fur iis tlicso arc ;iwilnble. Cnrclessuess \vibli iniitclics, Ctignrs, ciguret,tes, ctc. ciiuscd damage of over 30 niillioiis ; rlcfcct,ivc cliiniiicys iind fliics, over 22 millions ; iiccidcnts arising froiii stows, fliics, boilcrs nnd their pipes, over 21 iiiillioiis ; spoiitiiiieous combustion caused ditiiingc of over 17 nullioiis, nuct sparlrs on roofs over 36 niillions; carelessness with clcctricnl Iipplimiccs ciiiisctl it loss of alioutr 14; inillion dollars, niid iicnrly one liirlf of ;ill tlic clcctricd accidents arosc froiii t,lie iisc of tlic elcci ric flat iron. Thc rciiiaiiidcr wcrc largely nttribiitnhle to bat1 wiring. I t is iiistriictivc to iiotc tlint only .Jlj/, of the clcctriciil losses iirosc in buildings which were wircd according to the Nat,ioiial Electric Code. These Aiiicriciiii stat,istics nrc taken froiii tlie papcr by I \ ' . ;I. Jiodgers, junr., rcud n t the Sistli Aiiiiiinl BIecting of thc Icire Cliiefs of tho Bctlilcliciii Steel Corporntion. It may be of SOIIIC iiitercst to t.nkc n short b:ickw;lrils vicw over tlie progress of fire figlitiiig in this country. At 1 . 1 1 ~ tiiiic of tlic Oreat Firc of Loniloii (1666) thc fire iippliniices tlicn iii csistencc consistc(1 of briiss-Iinntllcd squirts :ind Icatlier buc1;ct.s. The squirt, luivilig held about n gnllon of water, : r i d wits w r y like nil enlarged modern gardcii syringe. Tho City of London \'its divided into four tlist,ricts, ; i d , nccortling to the Act in l(i(i7, each district, is provided with two squirts and SO0 lcntlicr buckets, togetlicr \rit,li ii J i i l l l i b ~~ of spiidcs it lit1 pick-iiscs. Soou iiftcr this two rival engine-iiinlcers succccilctl ill perfecting n kind of fire engiiie, nnil onc evcnt~unlly Illitdo i t t i engine ciipnblc of throwing n jct of wntcr to n IicigIlt Read at the meetliig of tlia Clieinlcnl I ~i g l ~i e e r l ~i g Group 011 Jfry u.