Fire Protection Body In New Zealand Planned

Press, Volume CV, Issue 31027, 5 April 1966, Page 1

Fire Protection Body In New Zealand Planned

A New Zealand branch committee of the Australian Fire Protection Association will be started soon in New Zealand to help reduce the toll on life and property from fire.

The voluntary committee would begin as soon as possible after the Australian association had met on April 28 to change its constitution to include a New Zealand branch, said Mr H. W. Marryatt, of Melbourne, in Christchurch yesterday.

Before he was instrumental in founding the Australian association he was the general manager in Australia of a fire protection company.

Mr Marryat said the association was non-profit making, had no barrows to push, and had no sectional interests to pursue.x As in Australia, the New Zealand branch would have no Government subsidy, but would work on subscriptions and donations from anyone interested.

This financial support, he said, came from the insurance world, and companies interested in the fire business; none come from fire boards. The New Zealand branch committee would, under the constitution now being dealt with, have at least two members from the South Island, said Mr Marryatt. The chairman-elect was Mr H. J. Triggs (Auckland) of the fire protection division of a general engineering company, and the vice-chairman was expected to be the fire protection officer of the Ministry of Works (Mr G. Dunnachie), of Wellington. TALKS IN CITY

Yesterday Messrs Marryatt and Triggs held talks with the chairman of the Christchurch Metropolitan Fire Board (Mr W. R. Campbell) and the Chief Fire Officer (Mr L. R. Osmond) on the proposed formation of the New Zealand branch commit-, tee.

Mr Marryatt said after the talks that if the New Zealand committee succeeded, and was well supported, New Zealand in due course would establish itself as a separate association.

Asked how enthusiastic Messrs Campbell and Osmond were about the idea of forming a New Zealand branch committee of the Australian association, Mr Marryatt said he felt “they were very receptive.” "Naturally I think there is a bit of an attitude, which we had too in Australia, of ‘now we will wait and see what you do’,” he said. Support came in gradually.

Messrs Marryatt and Triggs in Christchurch yesterday also conferred with major insurance companies and North Canterbury Hospital Board officials. “Our motto.” said Mr Marryatt, “is from Shakespeace. It is 'A little fire quickly trodden out; Which, being suffered, rivers cannot quench’.” The aim of the association was to act as a clearing house for information on fire prevention and fire protection. MODERN PROBLEMS Through the careful recording of reports on fires it would make available authoritative information on predominating causes of fire in any type of occupancy, the effectiveness of all types of fire protection, and furnish information on methods by which fire waste might be reduced. The association, said Mr Marryatt felt that with modern technology fire problems were multiplying. Because of this one had to have quick communicatton about problems so that if one country had the problem, other countries could be warned. The fire problems he was referring to were those associated with automation, computers, rockets and atomic energy, to mention a few. Mr

Marryatt said that anything passed to his association from overseas organisations would be passed to the New Zealand branch.

Mr Marryatt said it was always cheaper to learn from someone else’s fire disaster. Australia had benefited greatly from the experience of similar associations in the United States, the United Kingdom and the Continent. FIGHTING WITH FACTS “Our job is not to supplant fire brigades or any other organisation,” he said, “but to provide information on a national and international scale. We fight fires with facts.” The association made it its business to know all about new materials and processes. With this kind of information it could let New Zealand fire boards know about new problems before the problems came to New Zealand. Today Mr Marryatt will leave Christchurch by air for Australia. He will fly to Chicago in four weeks to the annual meeting of the American National Fire Protection Association. This-will also 6e attended by Mr Triggs. Mr Marryatt will later attend a conference in Wiesbaden, Germany, where it is hoped to ■ form a conference of Fire Protection Association International.

“We hope that 19 countries will participate at the outset,” he said.