RESENTMENT OF "FIRE SCARE”

Press, Volume LXXIII, Issue 22109, 3 June 1937, Page 3

RESENTMENT OF "FIRE SCARE”

* POSITION AT LYTTELTON HARBOUR BOARD CHAIRMAN TRAVERSES CRITICISM “In trying to bolster np a case for the construction of a tunnel road, I am sorry that Mr Robinson has found it necessary to raise this most unfortunate and very unjustified fire scare about Lyttelton,” said the chairman (Mr W. K. McAlpine), at the monthly meeting of the Lyttelton Harbour Board yesterday, in traversing the report of a discussion at a recent meeting of the Christchurch Fire Board, when Mr K. W. Robinson referred to remarks made by Mr McAlpine at the Tunnel road conference. Mr McAlpine stated that Mr Robinson was reported in “The Press” on May 12, as saying, “he (Mr McAlpine) claimed that the Lyttelton Fire Brigade could look after its own affairs. He, Mr Robinson, did not want to disparage the work of the Lyttelton Fire Brigade, but he would say that it could do nothing to help if the petrol tanks at Lyttelton caught fire and there was a strong south-west wind blowing. The Lyttelton Fire Brigade is certainly capable of looking after a fire in a house at Lyttelton, but in the case of a petrol fire It would be useless.” Mr A. W. F. Preston was reported as having said at the same meeting “that a petrol fire would destroy all the wharves with the Lyttelton Brigade looking on unable to do a thing to stop it.” He also said “that there was no fire float at Lyttelton,” and both he and Mr Robinson further criticised the vulnerability of the port from the point of view >of fire. In his reply, Mr McAlpine said that he would stand by anything he had said at the conference, but he strongly differed from Mr Robinson’s interpretation of his remarks. What he had said was as follows: —"With regard to a fire in Lyttelton, I think we have one of the best fire-fighting appliances in Lyttelton already, and we don’t require the assistance of the city of Christchurch.” “It is not my duty,” continued Mr McAlpine, “either to protect or defend the Lyttelton Fire Brigade in respect of the aspersions which have been cast upon it. The brigade has, I think, effectively ‘kept its end up’ in the controversy. The board assists the brigade to the extent of £IOO per annum, and has always found it very efficient and ready to respond to any call which has been made upon it." “Weak Argument for Tunnel Road” Speaking generally, on behalf of the port, Mr McAlpine said he strongly resented the “fire scare” which had been raised by Mr Robinson, apparently as a somewhat weak argument for the construction of a tunnel road. His remarks about the position of the oil tanks storage sites at Lyttelton were out of place, and evidently made without knowledge of the facts. If Mr Robinson had closely studied the Government regulations which controlled the storage and handling of petrol and inflammable oils in bulk, before making his remarks, he would have understood that those regulations were stringent and provided that each tank should be surrounded with a clay wall and compound capable of retaining the contents of the tanks in case of disaster or fire. The remarks of Mr Robinson and .others appeared, said Mr McAlpine, to have been made with the idea in view that the Christchurch Fire Brigade should assist the Lyttelton brigade to put out a petrol fire if such should occur in or near the oil storage tanks, or apparently, on an oil tank steamer. Experience in other ports of the world had shown that water was just about the last thing which should be used, by itself, to put a petrol fire out. Mr McAlpine recalled that in August, 1920, when a petrol-laden barge took fire in the Thames, 10 fire brigade motor pumps were mobilised to deal with the fire. The result was that in a few moments flaming petrol was running over the side of the barge into the river. Thus, through water being used as the agent to extinguish the fire and, unintentionally, as a vehicle to carry abroad the flaming petrol, two large warehouses, two docks, nine barges, and a ferry boat were burned and other serious damage was done to the adjoining warehouses, sheds, and wharves. Should an extensive conflagration occur on the wharves or in the town of Lyttelton, Mr McAlpine said, he felt sure that the Lyttelton brigade would welcome the co-operation of the Christchurch brigade, but not to put out a petrol fire with water. The board itself had all round the waterfront fire-flghting equipment. The oil wharf was equipped with a special “foamite” plant. The dredge Te Whaka was equipped with fire pumps throwing 650 gallons a minute at a pressure of 1001 b a square inch, which, in the case of an oil fire, would be operated with the “foamite” plant which fed into the fire hose and which was limited in capacity only by the amount of “foamite” powder fed into it. The board’s tug Lyttelton was also equipped with powerful fire pumps. Mr McAlpine added that he was informed by the oil companies, whose tanks were erected on ground leased from the board, that they had special and efficient fire-fighting appliances of their own which, in at least two cases, more than complied with the Government regulations controlling the handling and storage of inflammable oils in bulk. A chorus of “Hear, hear” greeted the chairman’s statement, which was adopted without discussion.