NEAFC 31st Annual Conference.pdf - New England Association of ...

NEW EN~LAND ASSOCIATION OF I~IRE CHIEFS
We usually start with the third or fourth grade and those children are naturally
interested in different things from those in junior ,high and high school. We have had
the program going now for about three years. It is working very successfully andl we
h~ve c.vercome the opposition that the gentleman from New Hampshire had.
We also have a nature study division where children are taken out into the woods
and show them the birds and the bees, how to build fires in the open and take care of
cooking and fires. I believe we are the only school in Massachusetts doing that type
of work. I want to have everybody here understand that the situation has Changed
in Newton and that we are d:oing everything to bring children up right to reduce the
number of fires. (Applause.)
CHAIRMAN ERSKINE: I think, Lieutenant, that possibly we might give Gunn a
vote of thanks.
MR. GuN,c: That was back in 192~ before he was born.
CHmr LEW~S A. MmaSHAL, Providence: Is the damage from a tornado covered
by windstorm insurance?
CHAIRMAN ERSKINE: Mr. Estabrook, do you want to take that question?
MR. ES~:ABROO[: That was a question which was frequently raised in Worcester
in the two or-three days following the storm. Definitely the layman didn’t understand
that a tornado is a windstorm and that windstorm insurance dees cover damage caused
by a tornado, and the answer is "yes."
CHAIRMAN ERSKINE: Would you be good eno,ugh to pick up the questions which
are asked,
EX-CHIEF POPE, Boston: Does the average home owner carry sutticient insurance
to cover b.is loss? Walter, you have been down there.
MR. T. WALTER KEANY: I would say from all the information available to us
that very few people carried windstorm insurance on their household belongings. You
take out in’ ~e park, I .doubt if 10 per cent of all the people there carried windstorm
insurance or extended coverage as we know it on household contents, but a number
had it on automobiles with comprehensive policies, but not more than 10 per cent had it.
MR. I..OP~TON C. WALDEN, Wcrcester, Supt. Protective Department: How does
the public know what to do to collect on insurance in case of a disaster such as the one
in Worcester?
MR. WESTERVELT: That is one of the most important things the insurance business
muir do in time of disaster, and in Worcester radio, newspaper advertising, word
of mouth were used throughout the entire area. For example, the four radio stations
at Worcester carried a talk by the National Board of Fire Underwriters; the manager
of our .oNce in Worcester, a Mutual loss man, and an agent in town gave part of what
the public shoul~ do in order to prepare their losses. The newspapers have carried ads
on the front page as part o.f their public relations program to keep the people aware of
what they have to do to speed up the adjustment of claims. The people have been told
bY radio, word of inouth, as well as in the newspapers to begin first emergency covers
and then they have been told how to proceed to make up estimates of damage and
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