CAUSE OF FIRES.

Auckland Star, Volume LXVIII, Issue 255, 27 October 1937, Page 16

CAUSE OF FIRES.

MANY DIRTY CHIMNEYS. SUPERINTEXDEXT'S REPORT. The diverse causes of fire in the city were mentioned by the superintendent of the Metropolitan Fire Brigade, Mr. W. L. Wilson, in his monthly report on the working of the brigade, presented at a meeting of the board to-day. Mr. Wilson reported responses to l>o calls, of which Sβ were actual fires, 13 were chimney fires, 22 grass or rubbish, and 27 false alarms. The remaining call was outside the board's jurisdiction. Defective chimneys caused 14 of the fires attended. Of 27 false alarms 13 were considered malicious and seven justifiable. One fire was believed to be the result of incendiarism. Among other fires reported the causes were given as follows:—Asphalt leaking into a boiler from a furnace, a motor car colliding with a telegraph pole, children playing with matches and cigarette lighters, a child throwing a celluloid doll on a fire, fat boiling over on a gas cooker, a gas ring left burning, a spark from a sandpapering machine, and a rag hot from stove cleaning being placed in a cupboard. The only fire coming under the heading of spontaneous combustion was caused by the sun's rays igniting flrcwoiiks in a shop window.