VITAL WORK

Evening Post, Volume CXXXIII, Issue 49, 27 February 1942, Page 6

VITAL WORK

CFTY FIRE SERVICES

VOLUNTEERS NEEDED

The Dominion Fire Controller, Mr. R. Girling Butcher, today called upon men in Wellington to make up, by volunteering for service without delay, the strength of the Emergency Fire Service to, the personnel aimed at, 600. He em-, phasised ithe importance of this service in guarding lives and property and outlined the training given and the conditions of service. Two hundred and fifty more men were wanted at once. Application should be made to the District Fire Controller, Central Fire.. Station.

"The value and the importance ox the service is not sufficiently recognised in Wellington," said Mr:. Butcher. "The authorities in the first place called for 400 men, but at no stage have they had more than 350 effective members, and in view, of the advent of Japan into the war, it is necessary to increase the number to 600. Efforts to recruit more men have so far resulted in the addition of less than 50 new members, leaving about 250 still required."

The E.F.S., he said, corresponds with the Auxiliary Fire Service which has built up such a magnificent record in Britain. In Britain the Auxiliary Fire Service was called up for full-time duty on the outbreak of war, but this is not practicable in New Zealand under the present conditions of man-power shortage. "But," said Mr. Butcher, "it is just as essential here as in Britain that the fire services shall be strong enough and well trained to deal with fires which may be caused by enemy attack." • The position was placed frankly before the parade of the E.F.S. on Wednesday night. The Japanese, Mr. Butcher said, are reported to have used a proportion of large incendiary bombs which cause such fires as require the services of trained brigadesmen and their plant, and more than ever it is important to provide a quick turn-out of strong fire services throughout the day. The arrangements in Wellington are that the men carry on their ordinary work, and in one week in three are billeted in the vicinity of their action stations. The services of most of the taxi-drivers in the city have been secured to serve with the units to tow the trailer pumps into action, and one driver comes on duty for each billet nightly. BILLETING AND TRAINING. Billeting has been arranged mostly in boarding-houses on the fringe of the business area. During business hours the men are allotted by roster to the action stations nearest their places of occupation. After their day's work men on night duty return to their billets, where they constitute the first turn-out sections for duty in the city area. Men not on night duty at billets mobilise on alarm in the residential areas and man the extra pumps stationed at strategic points throughout the suburban districts. The conditions of the service are that the Government provides uniform and standard personal duty equipment, and the men are paid for drill parades at the same rate as the Territorial Forces. The recruit training course is of not less than 60 hours' drill, but the work is interesting, "including »ot only routine brigade work, but the pumping operations which will be necessary in emergency and the breakdown of the water supply. Should that happen the alternative will be to pump water from the harbour or from underground streams (of which there are several passing through culverts in the city area), and to relay the water through a succession of pumps to the fire. MAJOR CITY FIRES. Up to the present the E.F.S. men have been trained in squad drill, handling of pumps, hose, and equipment, but from now on it is proposed to practise them in brigade drills on the lines of military tactical exercises, involving the tui'ning out of both the E.F.S. and the brigade appliances to places where they may be called on to operate in times of emergency. Superintendent Woolley had explained to the men on parade on Wednesday that the principle would be to limit the area of major fires which would almost inevitably occur should an attack be made, and explained it was for that reason that the men would be trained in setting up water curtains to surround the block on fire. The exercises have been carried out during the black-outs and at a public demonstration on the waterfront some time ago.

The whole organisation is controlled from one control room at the Central Fire Station, said Mr. Butcher, so that by a map and bulletin board' system the officer in charge is aware at a glance of the disposition of every sectiqn of the fire service—permanent brigade appliances, E.F.S. trained pump sections, and E.P.S. fire section crews manning emergency vans (with hose and standpipe and first-aid equipment). Direct telephone lines connect the control room with stations and strategic points, and alternative communications will guard against failure of the tele* phonic system.

"The service asked of members of the E.F.S. undoubtedly calls for greater sacrifice than that asked of the ordinary E.P.S. member, and a much higher standard of training is required, but their service may be of untold value to the whole community," said Mr. Butcher, "The keenness and enthusiasm among the present members are outstanding. The men were asked to go into billets at 24 hours' notice, and in not one case was there failure to respond, but the limited number of men imposes a very severe strain, not only upon willingness, but also upon physical capacity to stand up to the work shared among too few men. More volunteers are needed at once."