THE FIRE BRIGADE.

Press, Volume XLVI, Issue 7360, 12 July 1889, Page 3

THE FIRE BRIGADE.

An improvement has been made, and was completed yesterday, at the Lichfield street Fire Brigade Station, by which the , ,V steam engine located there can always, be /< l supplied with hot water. It is unnecessary . ill to go into minute details of the work,.' ■'." which has been carried out by Mr Watters: ii at the expense of the Fire Insurance' n Association, and which has given great ... \ satisfaction to the Government Inspector / i \ of Machinery, the City Surveyor and the / 1 \ heads of the Brigade. The Idea of pro- ' \ viding the engine with hot water Instead \-, of heating the boiler with gas 1 was mentioned some long while back, \ s but it was not pushed until recently. J The system had been seen by Mr Harris tj in use in America, and a Northern fire- & man who went to Sydney was greatly Im- \ ] pressed with the utility of it In that city 1 . { When the Lichfield street station became '/ once more occupied by the Brigade the t idea was revived, with the result that it ,-,» has been carried into effect. The water lis W heated in a saddle boiler in a small brick / room built for the purpose, and is circu- #.' lated through pipes to the engine and | ;: bath-room. Two purposes are thuß if served. The apparatus Is very complete, 1 as shown by the ease with which it Is f attached to, and detached from, the 1t i engine. In case of fire, the running out of ' I the engine shuts off the supply, so that ' I there Is no escape of water either from the I pipes or the boiler, and steam can be made i in much less time than under the old ays- J tern ofi heating by gas—a system the ex- J pense of .which is said to be considerably T 7 * more than that of the one now instituted. , \