FIRE PREVENTION.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXII, Issue 19214, 31 December 1925, Page 8

FIRE PREVENTION.

A review, published to-day, showing the number of fires occurring in Auckland during the year is accompanied by some remarks which arouse an inclination to ask whether the city has not been fortunate to have escaped so lightly. The record of outbreaks confined to narrow limits by the prompt action of the brigades shows that the business of suppressing fires has been raised to a high pitch of efficiency. It is generally recognised that the brigades arc thoroughly trained, well directed and zealous in the performance of their duties to the point of complete self-forgetfulness. There is little fault to be found with the fire-fighting organisation. What Superintendent Wilson says, however, suggests that the possibility of universalising precautions independent of the brigades is worth considering broadly and comprehensively. The superintendent talks of automatic alarms, manual alarms, and automatic sprinklers. An exact determination of their relative merits is for the expert. What anyone can understand is that the general installation of means for either detecting or suppressing incipient outbreaks would be a benefit to the city. So many regulations and restrictions are now faced by the owners of buildings, that any proposal to make some given form of precaution compulsory needs to be approached with hesitation. At the same time, the risks from fire are such that every encouragement should be given to the voluntaryadoption of any device likely to be useful. The old saying about prevention being better than cure has been worn thin with use, but it is as true as on the day it was first coined. And if no means of literally preventing fires has yet been discovered, at least there are ways of preventing them from getting out of hand. Their use can be commended to all property owners, as a measure of self-protection and a public duty as well. There is food for thought in what the superintendent says on the subject.