Page:Fires and Fire-fighters (1913).djvu/24

4, high pressure pumps, dangerous structure traps and so forth, presuppose a high degree of scientific skill and technical knowledge on the part of the fire-fighter, who may thus legitimately claim to belong to a well defined profession. Since appliances vary in different parts of the world, according to local needs, the author has included in this volume some slight account of the equipment and methods of foreign departments, which would prove serviceable for purposes of comparison. Equally, full descriptions will be found of the most modern mechanical devices in use, which it is hoped will be of real service to those who are interested in the subject from a practical standpoint. There is no doubt that at last the world has awakened to the economic importance of fire control. Insurance risks have become so stupendous that those involved financially in the same, demand the acme of scientific foresight and the maximum of human enterprise towards the protection of their capital. It is true that in some quarters there is a regrettable tendency to gamble on fire risks, which brings in its train sporadic outbursts of incendiarism, whereby, in many cases, human lives are jeopardized. But with the exposure of such dubious modes of increasing business and with a realization of their results, it seems beyond question that saner and wiser counsels will prevail.

These are days of keen competition as applied to the search after a bare livelihood and the pay and prospects of the fireman are such that they well merit the attention of young men with ambition and brains. The life is a healthy, if strenuous one, while the position of Fire Chief, at any rate in America, is within reach of all comers and the goal one to be envied. Should this work prove to be the means of encouraging the right type of man to come forward, then the writer will be happy in the knowledge that his labour has not been in vain.

It will be noticed that a chapter has been devoted to a consideration of how best to deal with fires in private houses and the most prolific causes of these outbreaks. Carelessness can never be wholly eradicated from human