WELLINGTON FIRE RISKS.

Dominion, Volume 1, Issue 72, 18 December 1907, Page 2

WELLINGTON FIRE RISKS.

AN INTERESTING ARTICLE,

DANGER bp WOODEN BUILDINGS,

THE GOVERNMENT CRITICISED. (BY TELEGRAPH SPECIAL CORRESPONDENT.) Auckland, December 17. Apropos of th& destruction of Parliament' , Buildings the "Herald" publishes a Bpscial article which will bo road with interest in Wellington. The article states: The fire risks in the city of Wellington are greatly added to by the numerous wooden buildings, many of them mere ramshackle shells, which exist in the very heart of the -city. ■ ' Tho great Lambton Quay fire last year, which resulted in tho destruction of two', large blocks of buildings, and damage to the o , extent of hundreds of thousands of pounds, commenced in a one-story wooden shop buried in between two tall brick : edifices. It is.. . of course, a matter of history that the con- > flagration in quostion would not have " spread nearly so disastrously had. not' the water supply fiiijed 'at tho crucial moment. Nevertheless, so long as similar conditions ' obtain, there is always tho probability : that j equally serious outbreaks may occur, '.'be fallacy of building in wood has long' been • recognised in Wellington, particularly since . . - the lear of; earthquakes has begun to disappear, or has been allowed to lie quiescent.: The difficulty in connection with the brick : area is that the Council has no /'power-Jto : '• insist that every building within it shall bo of material other than wood. Property owners, in other words, cailnot be forced to demolish existing wooden structures and rebuild in brick and stone unless their pre- •' mises are condemned. • ' ■ THE TE ARO FLAT. The Te Aro Flat is crowded with wooden tenements, and includes the Chinese dens . ' m Haming Street, and other whole streets of ofton disreputable-looking old houses that would make a good bonfiro if a blaze st-artod in a high wind. A fire'once started. . ■ in Lambtou Quay, or some ,other thoroughfare, would find endless material to feed upon, and would be increas- ~ ingly difficult to check. All this right in tho centre of tho brick, area. The New Zealand Government is a distinct sinner in regard to being the owner of more than one block of premises in Wellington that increases tho fire risk to .neighbouring properties. The Government had foreseen the. danger of the destruction of Parliament Buildings.. .. and their conversion to that material or" ' such of the buildings as had not previously been rebuilt in brick was actually'in hand wlion tho long-dreaded fire occurred, but- f there is another building that on Lambton Quay in closo proximity to the Supreme Court and Magistrate's Court, to . new warehouses, and to offices (ofwood) along Fcatherston Street. This is the huge edifice known, as Government- Buildings, 'whero tho Departmental offices and Ministers' quarters, are situated. . It is said to be the dargost' wooden building- in the • world. This is frequently ,to b'e heard referred to as a bonfiro in the making. Yot, ; not' so long ago, the Government decided upon additions to the southern end jof the buildings in wood. 1 A PROTEST IGNORED. • '

A protest from: tho City Council, . which body pointed out 'that '.-Govornmont Buildings . Were situated with- "' in the brick area, had rip effect. V The additions, it was decided, .'should bo gone on with. Thus, the Government itself' iii-' creases the fire risks in Wellington, and Bets the municipal by-laws at nought. Again, * the block of buildings at the back of the ' General' Post /Office, and facing on.' to Feuthprston • Sweet,' consists entirely of wood—old and dry wood—which would burn • like paper onco fairly ignited.' This block '/ io owned by the Government. It is 1 right in : - r the midst of .gniv.of ,tlig, t qpngesjted business ' i.. quarters, 'and.'_opp'ositp,..tq -one'"of, tto'.'finest' ,now_ office 'building in mj;tKo ( !l and"is' a\i,: distinct menace td"iWe' H surr6i!ming s bufldings which havo been put up by private enter-* .'. prise, to say; nothing; of. the . Post; .Office;.';': itself.- The Government is by no means tho ' only offender jn this respect. " ; As we'Tiafre) indicated, there are scores'of wooden bnild-' * ' ings of private ownership in the heart of the' City of Wellington, arid precautions against 1 • lire,/however drastic, or however thoroughly * carried out, are over and over again demonstrated to bo futile where wooden structures stand as fuel for the flames: ' , FIRE APPLIANCES. • ' _ Wellington's fire appliances are of an trp-w-dato character, but they are hot fully efficient. The Superintendent of the .fire bri-' gado (Mr. Hugo) at tho time the City Council controlled the service, 1 was for ever requisitioning for more appliances, and for more men. lie invariably intimated that ho asked for-less'than ho thought he ought'to. receive: from motives of economy. The equips mailt of tho Wellington fire brigade, has, in' I; 'consequence, boon greatly improved; but it' ' is far from what it should be for a city so thickly strewn with wooden structures. The' brigade, too, is smart and prompt to the call, and has prevented many a fire" from ' : spreading, but when an outbreak assumes . alarming proportions the'firemen and their. 1 v officers feel tneir limitations; : ' - • ; ' WATER SUPPLY. :r - Again, the water supply is not always to.. , be depended upon, especially in ' ' ''' This'is being rapidly remedied by, tile erection of an auxiliary reservoir with a storage " capacity of sixty million gallons at Karorij but in the meantime the ' whole city ana' suburbs aro dependent upon two main supplies, the largor coming from Waimii-o-mata in tho hills beyond Potone, and; tho smaller fpm tho Karori reservoir (No. I).' As show-' _ ipg how thin tho line of safety afforded" by ' these' two present supplies is in case of fire, ■; tho larger supply was sonie months ago coin- '" pletcly cut olf by the .washing away of the main pipe bridge, in a fresh.' ' _ ; V-" The problems before Wellington in, connection with, its firo risks aro therefore throefold. Tho demolition of all wooden buildings y in the brick area would seen to be impossible, but it should bo striven • after. _ Tho more thorough equipment of the fire briga'do is a matter for tho Fire Board.' .The- ques-' tion of water supply and pressure is in hand,; and that difficulty is really not far from ■ being a thing of the past. ' v SUPERINTENDENT WOOLEY • INTERVIEWED. A further commentary on the recent fire ' ' is furnished in the same issue of the "Herald" in tho shape of an interview with Superin- ■ tondent Woolley, of the Auckland Firo ~ Brigade, on tho .subject of fire appliances in ' ; Government buildings. This shows' that, as ; ■ was tho caso 'with Parliamont Buildings, _defects oxist here, and reforms of various kinds are Urgent .''Mr. Woolloy stated that,, so ' ; far as he knew, the Government Buildings here wero only supplied with 2in., hoses"'with $iu. nozzles, buckets of water, and fire extinguishers nero and there. "To all intents and purposes," lie went on, " these hoses are of very little use in the event of a serious outbreak. They are', so to speak, only squirts, which are good : for nothing olse than subduing an incipient outbreak. What I suggost is, that iu all' Government buildings, or all big buildings, for that matter, 3in. rising mains passing through oach floor should bo . provided, and that on each floor there should • bo a valve with a 2Jin. hose, with an inch nozzle attached, capable of reaching any part of tho building. Tlie advantage of this is that it would givo you the full capacity of tho main the same as' tho firemen have in tho street, wheroas, with a 2in. hose with a }in. nozzlo, you can only get a quarter of the supply, which, in tho caso of a sorious firo, is almost useless." ! Asked if thero were any spocial means of communication with tho Brigade from tho Government offices in tho city, in tho event of an outbreak, tho Superintendent said, "No, there is not, exccptiilfj by'moons of telephones, or through breaking one of tho indicators in streots, and thero is. I might say, no trusting to tho former motnod, espo- , cially if you havo to do it through tho medium of the Exchango. To bo offoctual, yon must havo direct communication, .with tho metallic return, which is not allowod to get out of ordor, and whereby 'a man prawing a ■ button in tho burning building simultaneously .gives the alarm At the firo brigade station. . > . ■ ■ i