Mt Hutt ski lodge ready if fire breaks out

Press, 9 July 1986, Page 22

Mt Hutt ski lodge ready if fire breaks out

By

NANCY CAWLEY

Last week’s fire on Coronet Peak may have caused the management of other ski-fields to review their fire precautions, but one Canterbury ski area at least is confident that its main lodge is fully protected. Two years ago Mount Hutt had a $lOO,OOO sprinkler system installed when significant reconstruction and additional work was done at the skifield.

According to a spokesman for the Mount Cook Group, a sprinkler system was not practical for the • Coronet Peak building because of difficulty of water storage and producing satisfactory water pressure. But Mount Hutt would seem to have overcome these problems. With eight staff living on the mountain, the company feels special responsibility. Mr Philip Witton, operations manager for the Mount Hutt ski-field, said, "Most sprinklers work off air in the lines, with a compressor keeping the air pumped up to a certain pressure. We use anti-freeze, and have 45,000 litres of water stored up here, solely for fire-fighting (with sprinklers).”

Fire Fighting Enterprises, Ltd, of Christchurch, which installed the system, made checks four times a year, said Mr Witton. Every two months, the pump that put water through the system was tested, and a monthly check was also made of the bells and telephones that sound the alarm, in case of fire, in the lodge and at six places in Methven.

Fire Fighting Enterprises recently installed a sprinkler system in the newly completed lodge on The Remarkables ski-

field, within sight of the Coronet Peak ski-field and also run by the Mount Cook Group..

Mr Ray Jensen, a spokesman for the fireequipment specialists, said that the success rate with activated sprinklers in a burning building was 99 per cent The technical officer in Canterbury for the Insurance Council of New Zealand, Mr John Nolet, supports this, and says that most fires are controlled by one or two localised sprinklers, although.more may be needed where ceilings are built of more flammable materials. “Insurance firms cannot force people to install sprinklers,” he says, “but they can and do refuse to insure their buildings. They are tightening up more and more.”