THE WAY TO FIGHT FIRES

Ashburton Guardian, Volume VII, Issue 1667, 20 September 1887, Page 3

THE WAY TO FIGHT FIRES

I I I I », A correspondent of the " Napier Daily Telegraph," at present on a visit to Francisco, writes as follows on the subject of the Oakland Fire Brigade and the way they handle fires m that exceedingly pret*y suburb of ' Frieco :— The fire brigades are maintained by tha city, and I find the coat for the last year waa 35,000 dollare, There are four steam fice-eng;n^B with their companies, two horse p3w.r companies, two hook and ladder companies, and forty-eigtht alarm stations. I am mentioning these details as I think they may he of use. They "have 21. horses ready night and day, and 6550 feet of rubber h>ae. The other day I w»b standing just m front of the City Hall, when a tremendous boom sounded from the belfry. I look at the clook and found it waa 3 25. I wondered what it m9ant;, when another boom was heard, I thought it must be a fire. At that instant out issued a steam fire engine with two horses at full gallop, and I heard " Fire ; Washington street 1" So away I followed with *he crowd, Tha distance was about aa far as from the post office to Neal and Close's. The place seemed full of smoke. A larg<) blook of buildings used as a eteaiu laundry was on fire. When I reached the spot it wa3 literally soaked with water — three steamers at fnll blast, the hose all over thb street, and the men on the top of the building, and m twenty minutes the engines were back m tbeir sheds, the hose rolled up, nnd the fire completely out. The whole blcck of wooden bni'dinga, that would reach from about Neil and Close's to Higgin'a, were m danger, but the whole thing was over and the Btreot again clear. So little, indeed was thought of it that the papers only had a four line report. I could not make out how the horses were ready m such a short time, so I wont to the station to see whether the harness was always kept cd. No ; there stood the horses feeding as if not iing had happened, with nothing but the headstall and the bit loose on one side. I looked at the engine and there the mystery was solved. The shafts were raiaod up, and the whole of the harness was ready poised. Dlrcc'ly the bell sounded, the horses, with one jerk, were out of their ata.li, walked to ihe shafts (each on his own Bide), down dropped the shafts, everything closed with a Bpring, and away. The harness waa invented by a young saddler m 'Friaoo. Hj sold his patent for lOOOclols, and it is now In use all over the Kmte*.