FIRE BOARD

Dominion, Volume 19, Issue 296, 10 September 1926, Page 3

FIRE BOARD

MONTHLY MEETING

NEW ALARM SYSTEM ADVOCATED

Messrs. C. J. B. Norwood (chairman), H. D. Bennett, M. F. Luckie, D. E. Wilkie, F. G. Cray, and G. Reid were present at the monthly meeting of the Wellington Fire Board held yesterday in the board’s new room at the Central I iro Brigade station. After the estimates had been disposed of as reported elsewhere, the attention of the board was directed to the need of certain now plant, which the superintendent made an urgent matter. The superintendent was authorised to obtain prices. ~ , Incidentally the chairman mentioned that economies were being' effected in Sydney and elsewhere in Australia by combined buying of fire brigade supplies and he suggested that a combination of fire boards might be able to do something of the kind in New Zealand. Mr. Cray said that there were already facilities for purchasing goods . f r " m Home through the Internal Affairs Department. In urging the necessity of securing these supplies as soon as possible, Mr. Cray said that the city of Wellington had no proper protection against ■ fire at the present time. It was decided that a special meeting of the board should be held to consider matters concerning plant and supplies on Thursday next. The matter of an account for .£6 6=. from Dr. Mackin for attending to an injured fireman was referred to the City Council as the accident had occurred prior to the taking over of the tire brigades by the Fire Board. A letter was received from the East Vogeltown Progressive Association asking the board if it were the fixed practice of the brigade to leave a man in charge after the suppression of a fire, as, after a recent fire bad presumably been suppressed, there were two successive outbreaks in the same place, and the brigade had to be called up on each occasion. The superintendent reported that there was no fixed .rule on the point, as fires differed so in character. The question as to whether jt was advisable to leave a man behind was usuallv left to the discretion of the senior officer in charge. In the case referred to the man had made an error in judgment, and had been censured for it. Oil Company’s Insurance.

At the previous meeting of. the.board it was decided to approach the Vacuum Oil Company in respect to its insurances, as it was considered tlia \ sucll . a ( . panv with extensive property, plant and stock should contribute to the funds of the board; and. thp secretary was asked to make certain inquiries .about insUr ance. • That officer reported vester-d-.v tn the board that no local insurances were held by the company, and (he local headquarters would write to New York to ascertain to i bat extent their stocks and property hero were covered, if at all. Mr Luckie cxnressed the opinion tbat if they carried their own might not come under the Act at • Other members differed from that, view saving that whether the company was covered by its own insurance■ or not scarcely concerned thp risk that other contiguous works might run in the case of fire. New Fire Alarm System Advocated. The Vogeltown Progressive A tion wrote at some length on the sub iect of fire alarms, mentioning th* nossibility of a setback to the district Sd Serious fire occur The superintendent was asked to furnish a renort on the matter. . Jfiramar residents also sought a more enmnicte fire-alarm system. Before the close of the meeting Mr. Cray stated thftt the boare 1 bad <onsenfed to the expenditure of «£<•*) on fire alarms. He questioned very much whether that money should be expended on the extension of the present system? which gave, so many to a Whv not, ho said, go in for installing the duplex system, as t hey were doing in Auckland, a system which could not give a false alarm without (elliD that it was false. It would lie better to spend the money on the initiation of that system and send the othei alarms out to the suburbs. The superintendent said that would mean the scrapping of the whole of their present wiring, which would be was needed in a growing city like Wellington. He was not suggesting the new system as an insurance man. but merelv sought to afford better piotcction to . those people , who were investing capital in the city- , Mr. Creke offered the information that fhe "Duplex” could scarcely breakdown, but that one a wire went on the

present system the whole system broke sums were mentioned as the probable cost of installing the new system —sums up to <£15,000 —but Mr. Cray s answer to that was that a_ start could be made in a small way with the new’ system and its area increased each year. 'The matter is to be inquired into.