EIRE ALARM SYSTEMS

Press, Volume LXXXIV, Issue 25678, 15 December 1948, Page 6

EIRE ALARM SYSTEMS

NECESSITY FOR EARLY CALLS

"It is not much use for the Christchurch Fire Board to maintain expensive street fire alarms unless the public, including employers and employees alike, learn to use them on such occasions as the Ballantyne fire,” said Mr K. W. Robinson, in an “open” letter to the Christchurch Fire Board last evening. The letter, he explained, was written to “bring to notice the facts in further justification of an efficient brigade and officers and to emphasise the importance of proper use of automatic and manual alarm systems so generally installed throughout New Zealand.”

As Superintendent C. A. Woolley, of the Wellington Fire Board (which had asked the Government to investigate the maintenance and operation of fire alarm systems because the brigade was unable because of a late call to prevent the destruction of Levin and Company’s wool store equipped with one of the systems), was a member of the commission which investigated Ballantyne’s fire, Mr Robinson wrote that he wondered whether Superintendent Woolley had any doubts as to how much the decayed call received by the Christchurch brigade contributed to the catastrophe. An early call to the brigade was much more important in the case of a large, open drapery emporium than in the case of a wool store.

The chairman (Mr T. M. Charters) said a “late call” in the Wellington case was a misnomer, as an automatic alarm was given. Fire was found when the building was entered and the appreciation was such that a “stop” signal against further assistance was sent. Mr Robinson rightly drew the attention of the general public to the urgent need for an early call to the brigade. The report by the expert committee should be both informative and valuable, but the Wellington instance should not be taken as ineffectiveness of fire alarm systems, the installation of which had been justified on many occasions. The board had every reason to create an impression among owners of buildings that the board welcomed comprehensive alarm systems. Mr Robinson’s letter was received.