Praise for N.Z. fire service

Press, Volume CXII, Issue 32967, 13 July 1972, Page 14

Praise for N.Z. fire service

New Zealand could be very satisfied with its fire service; it compared favourably with that in Australia, said the chief fire officer of the Christchurch Metropolitan Fire Brigade (Mr F. A. Hardy) yesterday.

Firemen, too, could be satisfied. said Mr Hardy. By Australian standards, they were well off in almost every’ field: pay, conditions of service and working environment. Mr Hardy returned to Christchurch last evening after two weeks at the Australian Civil Defence School at Macedon. Victoria. He also spent three days with the Melbourne City Fire Bribade.

ADVANCED TECHNIQUES In Melbourne, fire brigades were using extremely good equipment and advanced techniques, said Mr Hardy. "In the general field of firefighting, however, we com-

pare very favourably,” he said.

Training in New Zealand was far superior to anything the Melbourne brigade had, but a new s4m training school due to open in September would put Melbourne ahead of any other brigade in the world in training. Fire-fighting training had come to be the most important task of any brigade, said Mr Hardy. In the past, this might have been neglected in Australia, “but as with anything over there, once they are into it, they are into it in a big way.” ELEVATING PLATFORMS In Melbourne, Mr Hardy investigated the use of snorkels (hydraulic elevating platforms); two large ones and a small one are in commission. and a fourth is on order. The Christchurch Fire Board has approved in principle the purchase of a small snorkel, which can life four men and take high pressure water to a height of 55ft. “Snorkels are new, but they are essential to successfully

fight fires,” said Mr Hardy. Plans for high-rise building in Melbourne were absolutely phenomenal, said Mr Hardy, and this was leading to changes in fire-fighting techniques.

“Here, when we get to the front door of a fire we say we have arrived, but there it might take another 15 minutes to find the fire because of the size of the buildings." Volunteer brigades were not used in Melbourne because of its size, but the major threat outside the city, bush fires, was dealt with almost entirely by volunteers, he said. Equipment tended to be more functional and not so developed as in New Zealand, because of the ruggedness of terrain.

NZ. EQUIPMENT USED In Sydney, Mr Hardy visited an electronics company and found New Zealandmade fire brigade equipment being adapted for Australian use.

One set of new receiving

equipment which was about to be sent to Townsville had had its main electronic component manufactured in Christchurch, said Mr Hardy. In Sydney he inspected advanced watchroom equipment which uses computers for automatically alerting stations to fires, designating keys and opening key cabinets.

CIVIL DEFENCE COURSE At Macedon, Mr Hardy attended a course on civil defence for staff officers and controllers. He said his main interest was in the further integration of the fire service with the civil defence organisation.

Mr Hardy said he had studied the Australian organisation at all levels, and would have to orient this to the New Zealand organisation.

This would not be difficult as the two systems were not vastly different, and New Zealand was guided by Australian civil defence standards.