IN CHARGE OF FIRST APPLIANCE

Press, Volume LXXXIV, Issue 25428, 26 February 1948, Page 8

IN CHARGE OF FIRST APPLIANCE

Senior Station Officer Stevenson said he had 19 years’ experience with the Christchurch Fire Brigade, which he joined as a probationer fireman. At the beginning, he was trained to be a third-class fireman by working about the station, drills, and watch-house duty. He was then given an examination for a third-class fireman. He was in the brigade 12 months before he was promoted a first-class fireman, and eight or 10 years later he was promoted to driver, then to senior fireman, and then to station officer without examination or tests. The last promotion was on seniority and merit. He had not undergone further tests'. A series of lectures was begun within the last year. Knowledge was increased by actual experience at fires and advice on mistakes by senior officers. He was always encouraged to read technical books; no books were prescribed for study. The Institute of Fire Engineers conducted examinations; he was not required or encouraged to sit the examinations which he passed, and the board gave him a weekly increase in wages. Other officers had ,sat the examinations. If he wanted higher knowledge, he had to get it outside, as nothing was done in the brigade to prepare candidates for examination. Cellar Not Known He was in charge of No. 11 motor, the first appliance to leave the station, on the day of Ballantyne’s fire. After the alarm sounded, Station Officer Thomson said: “There’s a call to Ballantyne’s cellar.” No instruction as to the route he should take was given. He asked if there was further information as to whereabouts the fire was in Ballantyne’s, and Officer Thomson said he had none. Witness told him he would travel via Lichfield street. Mr Watson: Were you familiar with the lay-out of the business?—l knew the nature of the business and had a general idea of the premises. But 1 did not know where the cellar was. Had you any knowledge at all of communications? —I knew it was a large, open, retail store. I had no intimate knowledge of it. By open, do you mean all communicating with one another? —Yes. You knew the goods were light and combustible? —Yes. When you left the station had you any appreciation of the possible danger of a cellar fire in such an institution?—That thought did not occur to me—that it would be very dangerous. Did the thought occur to you that a business such as Ballantyne’s was a bad fire risk?—Yes, I would agree that the business generally would be a bad fire risk, if the fire initially got a good hold Expected Ladder to Follow He expected No. 1 machine and the salvage van and the electric ladder to follow him, according to the brigade rules, said Officer Stevenson. He had no reason to anticipate that the ladder would not accompany him, and when he left he did not know it was not

following. He did not see any smoke until he reached the intersection oi Colombo and Lichfield streets, which was overshot a little. As he approached the building, a volume of smoke from the right-of-way was fanning out on the footpath and over the veranda. No smoke w r as coming from the first floor. He instructed the driver to pull up between Reece’s and the right-of-way. He had given no instructions to the men as to the need of using respirators of any kind when they were on the journey. The first duty of an officer on arriving at a fire was to locate and extinguish the fire as quickly as possible. Tne speedy inspection of adjoining buildings depended on the officer concerned. Knowing that other appliances would leave the station at the same time, he felt he had no duty to make an inspection. His duty was to locate the fire. If an inspection had been made by him, it was quite likely that the fire would get a hold. He was relying on a senior officer to make the inspection and realisation He expected more than one senior officer to arrive. Inspections Before War He had no knowledge as to the construction of the building, but he had inspected Ballantyne’s nine or 10 years ago under Superintendent Morrison’s scheme of visits to business firms to give advice on “fire house-keeping” to minimise fire risk by tidiness, to install fire-fighting appliances to fight incipient fires, the packing of materials, the heating facilities, and gen-

eral clearance of windows and alleys. The “house-keeping” system was oper-

ated until the E.F.S. service was introduced and had not been reinstated because, he understood, of shortage of staff. No vacancies for officers in the brigade had occurred since the war.

Mr Watson: If you were going to give advice on all those matters it must have been a thorough inspection?—Yes.

And included the alley?—lt mus have.

You remembered all departments on the ground floor communicating with each other?—Yes.

You knew of the existence of th< alley way ? —Y es.

And the cellars? —Yes. And the communications? —Yes. but I do not remember the details of the communications. The information gained by the inspections was recorded by the brigade at a later stage, said Officer Stevenson. Some of the information would give

a fair idea of the fire risks of the buildings. He did not know whether the buildings were classified. Report forms were not in existence when he made his inspection of Ballantyne’s.

If a subsequent report were made on Ballantyne’s, it would be probably filed in the brigade’s records. So you were not entirely ignorant of this building and lay-out when you attended the fire?—No.