FIRE BRIGADE EFFICIENCY

Greymouth Evening Star, 26 May 1938, Page 9

FIRE BRIGADE EFFICIENCY

STATEMENTS IN CH.CH. AWARD CONDITIONS [PER PRESS ASSOCIATION.! CHRISTCHURCH, May 25.. “Six firemen on leave who were sleeping at the Christchurch Fire Brigade’s headquarters on Monday morning failed to answer tne sounding oi the general alarm lor the hie in lombo Street,” said Mr. T. M. Charters, chairman of the C aristchuich ' ne Board, when he issued a reply this evening to criticism of his contention that the award provisions prevented the calling out of men on leave tor Of the staff of 67. 19 brigadesmen and one volunteer from holiday leave attended the fire, said Mr. Charters, and in actual fact the number on duty was sufficient. The question ' VdS whether, under the existing conditions, more men would have been available in the event of the spread of the lire towards Armagh Street. “The object of my remarks to lne Press’ on the subject of the award provisions is being achieved, the Boaic s chairman said. “My first remarts were made advisedly after consultation with members of the Fire board, because it was felt that the demands at present being made throughout Nev Zealand by fire brigadesmen s unions should be ventilated and resisted to the fullest extent possible." In 1 tie Press” on Wednesday the union appeared to be endeavouring to make one believe that the award under' which the men were now working vas similar to the award made m March. 1935, in regard to the holiday pro\ isions, said Mr. Charters. That award provided that senior firemen receded 21 days’ leave on full pay out of evei.y 356 days, plus one day’s leave in every five days. The new award provided that every fireman shall receive -.6 clays’ leave on full pay out of every 365 days, plus one day m e\eiy foui “In my experience of fire board control. I have found that the average fireman is a man of a very good type. Unfortunately, excessive unionism is to-day tending to lead firemen to take an almost extortionate view on then rights.” The following was a case m point:—Two months ago, the church Fire Board negotiated with the Firemen’s Union in an endeavour to arrange definite meal hours of one hour for each meal. That was to enable the men to go away from the station to have their meals wherever thev chose. The negotiations, which were conducted in the Conciliation Commissioners’ room broke down eventually through the Board receiving a written demand from the Firemen s Union that, although the Board’s proposal was otherwise acceptable, it would be necessary for the board to undertake that if any delay in meals hours arose, the board wouid pay each fireman so delayed 5/-. and provide the fireman with a. meal at the board s expense. . “Is it anv wonder, in view ot such a demand, that the superintendent would hesitate to call out to any outbreak men* who are on leave, unless the award specifically stated that the superintendent had such right? The superintendent has the right to withhold leave not already 7 given but the awaid does not. state that he has the authority to call back from leave any men actually on leave, even though they may be sleeping on the Board’s premises.”

Mr. Charters said he was very interested to learn that the Auckland brigade was subject to a "gentlemen’s agreement.” If nothing else arose from the discussion but the adaption of such an agreement in Christchurch without penalties such as 5/- for meal hours as desired by the union, his statements and those- of the various opposing representatives of unions and others would not have been made in vain.

MEN’S LEAVE. CHRISTCHURCH, May 2G. The actual staff position when the alarm was received, said Mr. Charters, was that 20 men were on holiday, one was on sick leave, and eight men were standing by at four stations. Nineteen men turned out to Mac Duff’s, plus one volunteer from holiday leave. Of the remaining 19 men on holiday leave, six were sleeping at headquarters, and one at Sydenham. “The point is made that three men, who ordinarily were to have taken their day’s leave on the day of the fire, voluntarily placed themselves under the orders of the superintendent,” said Mr. Charters. "That definitely creates a wrong impression. 3he fact is that these three men were due

to go on leave at. 8 a.in., but, as theyi were at the lire at that hour they) could bo asked naturally to carry on. Regarding Mr. Glover’s statement that the men on leave at the station were not asked to fight the flames, I would point out that there was no response from these men to the general alarm, which was sounded throughout the station. There is no time to run round the station to find out who is there. If there is no response, it must be assumed that no men are there. No nenalty is provided for not responding. " This is clearly indicated by the Auckland superintendent’s statement; otherwise, why should there be a. reference' to a gentleman’s agreement? Mr. Glover stated that only a small number of those .offering their services were accepted, and that the others were told to ‘stand by’ for orders, which never came. As six men who’have since been found to have slept on tho station, did not respond to the general alarm,' it is apparent that they could not have received orders of any kind. Whether the staff is or is not adequate to handle efficiently any potential outbreak in the citv, will be largely governed by the number of men left on the stations, if and when further increased leave allowances are granted. . I should like ( to assure Mr. Glover that I bow notj even to him in my appreciation of the work of the fire-fighters of this Dominion. Any other interpretation of my remarks would be grossly unfair and entirely misleading.”

NEED FOR PUBLIC INQUIRY LLOYD’S MANAGER’S CRITICISM CHRISTCHURCH, May 26. The request for a public inquiry into the fire fighting methods at Christchurch, w’as strongly supported by the

manager of the local branch of Lloyds Insurance Company, Mr. W. B. Honour, to-day. . He said that questions regarding the tactics employed by the brigade in combating the fire which caused .®xtensive damage at Mac Duff s building and the State Theatre on Monday, had been answered by Superintendent A Morrison, to the full satisfaction of his company, but the question did not end there. Although Superintendent Morrison had given satisfactory answers, it was now clear factors over which he had no control contributed largely to the destruction of the buildings. ‘ At this point it- was for the public authorities to step in and hold an investigation. The possibility was that some serious structural faults would be shown, and that these were the basic cause of the spread of the “in the interest of public safety, the | incidence of two strenuous fires with-| in a few davs of each other, and the i presence of factors that made the work | of the brigade ineffectual to prevent, heavy losses, a public inquiry into all aspects of fire fighting in the city is! warranted,” said Mr. Honour. | He added that his company was not looking on the question from the commercial standpoint, but thought that a lead should be given to public opinion. Any question of the inquiry would have no bearing on the settle-1 rnent of the claims. These were being I dealt with as speedily as possible. Mr. Honour added that while the Chairman of the Fire Board (Mr. T. M. Charters) appeared to be mainly concerned with combating award conditions that he considered likely to affect the efficiency of the Brigade, this was not the main issue in Mr. Honour’s opinion. He wanted to correct any impression that might have been drawn from the remarks he made yesterday, that Mr. Charters was attempting to avoid discussion of the main issue. What he had wished to imply was that if the inquiry were confined to the operation of the award, other important questions would not receive attention. In addition to the examination of the conditions prescribed in the award, the scope of investigation should be widened so that it could deal with the strength of the brigade, condition of equipment, the equipment itself and the question of enrolling and training auxiliary firemen for service in cases of emergency. The inquiry should also be comprehensive enough to deal with building by-laws which seemed to require revision.

HOKITIKA OUTBREAK. HOKITIKA, May 26. A fire outbreak at 2 o’clock this morning destroyed the premises occupied by George Wright, fruiterer, and owned by William Robinson, in Revell Street. The brigade made a splendid save, with shops on both sides. Insurance on the building was £2OO, and a similar sum on the stock, both in the Guardian Office. OUTBREAK IN LIFT AUCKLAND. May 25. An efficiently-working automatic fire alarm prevented a serious fire at the Government Buildings in Customs street early this morning. The outbreak occurred in a lift stationed on the third floor. The passenger compartment was destroyed, but the City Brigade made a good save. The superintendent reported at a Fire Board meeting later that the fire had started in a waste-paper basket in the lift.