Watchroom Is The Nerve Centre For The City

Press, Volume CI, Issue 29909, 24 August 1962, Page 7

Watchroom Is The Nerve Centre For The City

The nerve centre of the whole fire-fighting service for metropolitan Christchurch is housed in the new headquarters station of the Christchurch Metropolitan Fire Board. ■

Push-button electronic controls ensure that the brigade gets off to a quick start for any fire, no matter whether it is to be answered by the headquarters or one of the suburban stations.

The control system, which has been installed by a Christchurch company, is the most up-to-date in the country and ahead of automatic fire alarms in other parts of the world.

Sitting in the watehroom at the console, the duty watchman is in full control of the whole Christchurch

system. During testing periods —and an average of 400 street alarms and 1500 automatic alarms are tested each month—he has assistance.

Embodied In the system are 50 circuits which can handle a line resistance of 20,000 ohms and a minimum of 12,000 ohms and the Chief Fire Officer (Mr L. R. Osmond) says these should amply cover the extension over the next 20 years, as well as provide for added tine resistance developed by the Post Office cabling going underground. A turret-type PABX telephone system gives immediate coverage over the station telephones. - The fire telephones—there is a bank of three of them—receive only inward calls and do not ring outwards. Speaker System A station speaker system is embodied in the controls and is connected to all parts of the station and quarters. For the first time in New Zealand, an oscillating signal is used over the system to mobilise the crews for a turn-out.

“Up to now it appears most successful,” Mr Osmond said. As soon as the men are at their engines the system relays to them the actual location of the call. If the nature of the call involves only the squad turn-out, the push-: ing of one button simply oscillates in the squad room and the message is only given to the squad at night time, avoiding disturbance to the whole station. If the call involves a suburban turn-out where support has to be given by the headquarters station, then another button is pressed and there is a simultaneous turn-out of the duty squad and the suburban brigade.

A general turn-out at headquarters is achieved by pressing another butte* which actuates the general mobilising signal. “It is indisputable that the new system speeds up the turn-outs,” Mr Osmond said. Wheu a buttos; is pressed

it actuates a small meter timed to give a signal after 15 seconds, time to ensure that most members of the brigade called out are at appliances to hear the location speech.

According to the call it needs only the press of the appropriate button for the opening of individual doors or all doors to the station.

Second timing is given from the moment a telephone is lifted to answer a call until the arrival of appliances. The arrival is relayed by radiotelephone to the headquarters. The console has two positions from which fire calls can be answered, and a third monitoring position is at the duty officer’s desk about 6ft in front of the console. He has full control and can take over radio communication at will. Tape Recorders Also mounted on the duty officer’s desk are two tape recorders which operate auto, matically when a fire call is received. The telephone message is played back to ensure ’.hat a correct interpretation has been put on the message, or if a person has a foreign accent or a speech' impediment, then a closer analysis of the message can be made. From the watchroom with its automatic controls, there is complete coverage of the whole brigade’s area, including the stations at Lyttelton, Sumner, New Brighton, Woolston. St. Albans, Sockbum and Sydenham. “The staff have settled in very well to the new system, and with continual tutoring they are becoming very proficient,” said Mr Osmond. Mr Osmond was particularly pleased with the way the change to the new headquarters was made. ’ltwoughout the change there was complete coverage of the district, with both systems operating for a time.