FIRE GALLS

Evening Star, Issue 23352, 23 August 1939, Page 16

FIRE GALLS

DUNEDIN METROPOLITAN BRIGADE REVIEW OF THE YEAR The total number of calls attended by all sections of the Dunedin Aletropolitan Fire Brigade was 598 (city 551, borough of St. Kilda 19, borough of Green Island 15, borough of Alosgiel Id), being a decrease of 53 as compared with the preceding year’s record total of Col calls, states the annual report to the Fire Board. There was only one serjous fire, that which gutted the factory occupied by Thompson’s Crystal Products Ltd., on October 28, 1938. Two outbreaks which occurred in private .residences caused considerable damage. Of the remaining 141 actual fires attended in not one instance did the loss exceed £SOO. Details of the calls are as follows, the figures for the preceding year being shown in parentheses:—Fires in or on property, 128 (120); fires, motor vehicles, 1(5 (11); chimney fires, 200 ( lot)) ; gorse, grass, and rubbish, 93 (125). False alarms: Malioious, 40 (71) ; justifiable, 36 (43) ; automatic, 62 (65); accidental, 17 (17). Total, 598 (651). The South Dunedin Brigade attended ■sl fires, 63 chimney fires, and 38 in gorse, grass, or rubbish, while the Roslyn figures were 34 house fires, 38 chimney fires, and 29 others. The false alarms from South Dunedin included 21 malicious, 13 justifiable, 14 automatic, and 3 accidental. From Roslyn 15 were malicious and 7 justifiable, while 13 were automatic and 1 accidental. At Mosgiel there were 13 fires, while at Green Island there were 14 in all, with one justifiable false alarm. Included in the 203 calls attended by the South Dunedin motor were 19 in the St. Kilda district —fires, 4; chimney fires, 8; gorse. grass, and rubbish, 2; malicious false alarms, 2; justifiable alarms, 2; accidental alarm, 1.

Calls from automatic fire alarms totalled 78, of which four were to outbreaks of fire, 62 were through faults in the installation, and 12 were accidentally transmitted. Outbreaks of fire occurred in;— Dwellings, 4.7; factories and works, 14; motor vehicles, 16; outhouses, 15; sheds, 4; shops, 6; miscellaneous, 42. All the plant and appliances are in good order, but some of the apparatus has reached the obsolete stage, and will require to be replaced in the near future, particularly the electric ladder, which was purchased in 1915. The only addition to the brigade’s equipment during the year was the purchase of composite helmets for the permanent staff. It is expected that the issue of this type of helmet to all the members will bCjcompleted daring the ensuing year. All the fire stations are in the usual good order, and, wherever possible, repairs and renovations have been carried out by the brigade staff. The number and personnel , of the permanent staff remains unchanged, and the discipline and efficiency of the members have been well maintained. There were several resignations from the auxiliary staffs of the South Dunedin and Roslyn stations, but no difficulty was experienced in filling the vacancies with men of. a suitable type. There was an absence of serious injury to any of the staff during the period under review, although one member was ah inmate of the Hospital for several days as the result of a lacerated foream and severed artery sustained while on station duty. No member of the public suffered injury through burns received through the use of petrol'in, anv of the fires attended in the metropolitan fire district. The water supply available in the city and St. Kilda has been quite satisfactory, but the supply in Green Island has, at times, occasioned considerable concern, while that of Mosgiel has been totally inadequate for fire extinction purposes.