NEW FIRE BRIGADE STATION

Dominion, Volume 11, Issue 203, 16 May 1918, Page 6

NEW FIRE BRIGADE STATION

A TENDER LET.

'For some years past the City Council has been alive to the risk from firo which has been brought about by tlio olose settlement of the city lands on tho eastern side of the Mount Victoria-Mount Albert range of hills which forms the eastern rampart of Wellington city proper. Probably no part of Wellington has been so rapidly setthd as Hataitai and Lyall Bay. The rush for residential land aid not commence immediately on the running: of the electric cars through Mount yictoria to the sea, but that esseni tial facility made tho rush possible, and it came about fivo years ago, since when many' square miles of virgin country has been closely dotted with picturesque villas and pretty bungalows. The tide of settlement out that way has not been checked by the] war. Indeed, it lias .been accelorated by'the insistent demand for jiouses, .until at the present timt) a re-, spectable percentage of the population of Wellington sleeps east of the range. That they have managed to elesp in safety is perhaps more by luck than good management, us to the eyo of the expert judge of risks the chances of a devastating fire among the long lines of wooden houses has for some time past been an imminent possibility, and to meet euch a contingency the Fire' Brigade Superintendent (Mr. H. Tait) has. ior three years pnst urged the erection of a new fire brigade station in a position that would command that part of the city as ' well ra Wellington South. The old sub-station in Adelaide Koad was out of i the question, ne it was in the gully and it was naturally a more diMcult task to climb tho hills on either side of the' main thoroughfare through Wellington South with cold engines than it would be were the station on an elevation and the runs to fires downhill. In this case it was decided that the most advantageous and strategic . position would be at the top of Constable Street, which .ensured a quick downhill run on either aide. Some oighteon months ago tho site was selected, and a contract/for tho necessary excavations was let. With the spoil from that site n. good deal of the Kilbirnie Park extension was reclaimed. Now tho council—after a delay which was unavoidable—has let a contract to Messrs. Trevor Bros, for tho erection of the station building, and by this time next year it is hoped that an up-to-date fire station, adequulely equipped, will be ready for any coutin. gency that may arise.