FIRE WASTE

Evening Post, Volume CXII, Issue 124, 21 November 1931, Page 15

FIRE WASTE

PREVENTION WEEK

A NATIONAL MOVE

Fire Prevention Week, which commences with the official opening on Monday night "by the Minister of Internal Affairs (the Hon. J. G. Cobbe) and the Mayor (Mr. T. C. A. Hislop), is. a national effort being observed in every town in the Dominion, and is 1;ho outcome of the realisation that'll;, is. tho high-value fires which occur in business premises, that account for most of the alarmingly high annual losses, and that the only means of reducing the losses is by the education of the. public. This will bo done by special literature delivered to the schools and by lectures to adults in conjunction with displays to insure their attendance.

Tor business people a self-inspection card has been prepared, covering all the important fire hazards likely to occur in the ordinary business premises, and showing how these may be minimised by the exercise of care and common sense. Already applications for a supply of the cards for regular use in the future, which is what the. Department of Internal Affairs is hoping for, have been received from.business firms in Auckland and Wellington.

The big programme for next week, though there will be processions and demonstrations interesting ,the public, is not arranged solely as a spectacle, or merely for the purpose of showing the efficiency of the brigades, the inGftention being to briug before the "people the precautions by means of which they may avoid both danger and financial losses, which will be • amply proved to them in addresses covering every phase of fire-prevention. Life-sav->ing resuscitation, the fallacy of opening doors and windows when a fire has started, thereby spreading it to all the rooms, the reasons for keeping close to j the floor in thick smoke to take advantage of the small available supply of oxygen, the dagerous gases formed by the burning of different substances, and much information regarding the dangers to children of inflammable toys of celluloid, the highly inflammable'nature of photographic film, and the difficulfy in extinguishing it; the carelessness of smokers; the risks attaching to the use of petrol for cleaning near a light; these and many other matters which are overlooked or unknown by a number of people, will all be brought out and thoroughly impress!ed on the minds of old and young.

Special efforts will be made to impress children. On Saturday the city children will have demonstrations put on for them at the Central Fire Station from 10 a.m. till noon, and at the suburban stations from 2 p.m. till 4 p.m. The Northland station will serve as a centre for Kelburn and Karori children; Brooklyn for Happy Valley and Brooklyn; and Constable street for Newtown and Hatatai; while Miramar will be the gathering place for the children from Kilbirnie and Seatonn. The more children who can gather at suburban stations the' better, as there is plenty of room in the yards; while at the central station the yard can easily be overcrowded. To-morrow there will be a church parade of firemen, fire police, and volunteers at St. Thomas's Church, Newtown, when a special sermon, which will be broadcast, will be preached.