DIFFICULTIES OF COPING WITH THE FIRS.

Auckland Star, Volume XIX, Issue 246, 18 October 1888, Page 5

DIFFICULTIES OF COPING WITH THE FIRS.

PLUCKY BEHAVIOUR OF THE FIREMEN.

. Fixe Inspector Harris sftys: " Some years ago I visited the Asylum with colonel. Lean for the purpose of inspecting the buildings from a lire prevention standpoint. A number of very serious defects were pointed out in the roof. There are a series of tanks, the pipes from, which lead to various wards, bufc these pipes are exceedingly small, so thab when the hose was attached there was no pressure." (From another informant wo learn that the pipes were one incn in diameter and the hose two inches, so that the water came in nothing better than a dribble). "Again," continued Mr Harris, " there was the construction of the roof. The female ward is from 200 feet to 300 feet long, and the shape of the roof is that of an inverted V. In the building, separating walla are carried up_ at intervals from the ground to the attic, but terminate at a distance from the apex of the roof so as to resemble the upper portion of the letter A. This formed an enormous fire flue from end to end of the building1, and this was our great trouble. To deal with it, we hud to cut apertures through tho iron roof, and the, men of the brigade, under extreme difficulty, directed nozzles of hose through these openings. Fnding that the fire was gaining on us, we at last cut openings upwards through one of the ceilings, and men were plucky enough to go through into the open part of the roof and deal with the fire from there. Man after man had to drop away from this position, tho heat and_ smoke being intolerable. To give you an idea of the pluck shown, I may tell you that one of our men who was perched up there with a branch sang out to me: 'It is impossible for me to stand this without some thing over myface. I managed to pass up to him a handkerchief, and after he had fastened this over his mouth and nostrils he went on with his work for an almost incredible time.^ As a further illustration of the defective construction of the building I may point out to you that a window and door at the end of this long corridored building communicated directly with tho central hall, so that there was absolutely complete fire communication the whole way."-