RANDOM REMINDER

Press, Volume CV, Issue 31029, 7 April 1966, Page 30

RANDOM REMINDER

VIGILANTES

Nearly everyone is very well aware of the jostling and struggling in business promotion and the vast organisations striving for markets. But one might have thought that organisations looking avidly for business would hardly have included volunteer fire brigades. For this report of a strange situation in a West Coast town we are indebted to a faithful correspondent It was a calm, sunny Sunday afternoon, and the local butcher had taken time away from the cut and thrust of his business to do some gardening. But his pleasant pottering was

ruined with startling rapidity by the arrival of the volunteer fire brigade. The vehicle skidded to a noisy halt outside his gate and the troops poured in, looking about hungrily for the conflagration. There wasn’t one. But over the fence came a wisp of smoke: a rubbish fire in the property at the back, a property of the same number but in a parallel street. No nonsense about wasting time getting back into the fire engine and driving round. Over the fence they went, looking like a field of elderly steeplechasers. The fire belonged to a plumber and it was extinguished with commendable efficiency, while the

fire chief began a homily on the evils of lighting fires without permits. Then the chief went inside to check that all was well back at the fire station. He came out much faster than he went in. “Follow me, men,” he shouted, “We re in the wrong street.” So back they streamed over the fence and out they went. But they left behind them a firm impression of free-lance fire engines touring the town looking for business, with a spotter up front, searching the horizon for a sign of fire. Little wonder the local citizenry have begun to search for quiet corners, and to use cupped hands, before striking a match.