A STRONG INDICTMENT.

Auckland Star, Volume XXXII, Issue 128, 31 May 1901, Page 5

A STRONG INDICTMENT.

The members of the Auckland Fire Brigade are loud in their" complaints .regarding the manner in which they are treated by the City Council in regard to fire-fighting appliances. ''It is disgusting," said one, "that we should have to go on year after year in the same old way, for want of proper equipment. Last night, when we got the. alarm, we had to drag that heavy hook and ladder carriage (weighing- 30c wt) all by hand from the station up the hill to the hotel, with nine men, for a job that usually takes fifteen. The consequence was that we lost a lot of precious time, besides tiring men who should be fresh to start in on the fire. IT we had had horses to take the hook and ladder carriage, as we should, we would have got there much sooner, and might have been in time to save some of the people. It is a shame that we are expected to fight fires in that way; it doesn't give us a show to do our work, for it is most important that we should be able to get to work at once when an alarm is given. Then we have no proper ladders; we can't get at the upper storeys of a big building. There will be some bigger fires yet down there amongst those big warehouses and buildings in Customs-street if we are not supplied with proper ladders of sufficient height to reach the higher store vs."