NEAFC 32nd Annual Conference.pdf - New England Association of ...

NEW EBIGLAND ASSO¢IATIOBI OF FI~E CHIEFS
Tuesday Morning, June 22, 1954
The Tuesday Morning Session was called to order by President Fortier, on
June 22, 1954, at 9:45 o’clock.
PRESIDENT FORTIEe‘: The meeting will please come to order, Gentlemen.
First, I have some appointments to announce for Committees, as follows:
~. For the Resolutions Committee, Chi(f Lewis A. Marshall of Providence,
Rhode Island, Chief Walter R. Murray, Weymouth, Massachusetts., and Chief
G. Napoleon Guevin of Manchester, New Hampshire.
For the Courtesies Committee, Chief Francis Scully, of Waterbury, Connecticut,
Chief Clinton Murray, Cape Elizabeth, Maine, and Chief Richard
C. Holmes, of Windsor, Vermont.
Due to the heat, we have thrown the etiquette book into the river, so
that it is permissible to be without coats, today.
First on our program this morning, we are going to have an address by
Mr. Edward M. Johnson, Division Service Manager, Suburban U. ]9. I. Company,
Portland, Maine, on the subject of ~’Some Facts About LP Gas."
Mr. Johnson! (Applause.)
Me.. EDWAe.D M. JOH:NSO~I: Than~k you, very much, Mr. President. Let
me say, Gentlemen, first of all, that it 1 *s a pleasure £or me to be here, and incidentally,
it is gratifying and somewhat surprising to see so many of-you out
at a little after nine-thirty in the morning, in view of the festive occasion
held here last evening and throughout the hotel. You Fire Chiefs. must be
pretty stout characters to withstand a barrage like that and come up fighting!
¯ My industry is always happy to speak to people who have to do with fire
hazards and things of that nature. We believe that it is to. our benefit and to
your benefit, and to the benefit of the general public, if we can swap information,
and, as you know, our problems, are best understood when we realize
what they are.
I should like to more closely acquaint you with our product, Liquefied
Petroleum Gas. That product is one that has a thousand and one trade names,
tank gas, bottled gas, farm gas, and so forth and so on. But, the product itself,
technically, is called propane.
Propane is a hydro-carbon, and it is in the same family as natural gas,
fuel oil; gasoline, benzine, all of those things that are born of crude petroleum.
Its components are the same, and it differs only in small characteristics, boiling
point, and several other items.
So that it isn:t a total s~tranger. It is, however, unique in ~one respect,
and differs vastly from the other fuels, in this particular respect, in that it can
be a liquid or a gas, with no difficulty. It doesn’t take a great deal of effort
or pressure to change it from a liquid to a gas, and it will vaporize of its own
accord, from a liquid to a gas.
Now, this feature probably accounts for the rapid growth throughout
the United States; because of this feature, it can be transported, and concentrated
as a liquid, and then readily gasified at the consumer’s premises, so it
can be used in travel for the appliance under its own power.
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