ASBESTOS GARAGES

Evening Post, Volume CXIII, Issue 142, 17 June 1932, Page 8

ASBESTOS GARAGES

FIRE BOARD DOUBTFUL

: A letter received, by the; Wellington Fire Board to-day from the City Engineer stated that application had been made by a builder for permission to erect in the No. 1 building area garages with steel framing,-sheathed and roofed, and corrugated asbestos. The .regulations required erection in brick, stone, or concrete, which were considered to be fire-resisting, but.the proposed garage would be cheaper, and appeared to t>e equally fire-resisting. The fire hazard would be extremely limited. The secretary (Mr. H. S. Fairchild) said that the deputy-superintendent had inspected a sample garage and reported that it could not be compared with the regulation structures from a fire control point of view, and'departure from the regulations was unwise; He recommended that if permission were granted to erect the garages they should... be ten feet clear on either side from adjacent buildings, should house only one motor vehicle each, and should not be used for the storage of motor spirits or other" 'inflammable material. i .

Mr. G C. Edwards said he could not understand why, when such bylaws were m. force, application should be made to break them. What was the good of having bylaws at all? he asked. On the suggestion of the chairman (Mr N. Nelson), it was decided that if the superintendent confirmed the recommendations they should be forwarded to the City Engineer. Mr. S. S. Dean said that from the underwriters point of view the erection of such a garage as suggested affected adjacent buildings in exactly the same way as a wooden structure.