PROTECTION FROM FIRE.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXIV, Issue 19736, 8 September 1927, Page 13

PROTECTION FROM FIRE.

TOO MANY AUTHORITIES. CASE FOR SINGLE BOARD. PRESENT INEFFICIENCY. GREATER AUCKLAND'S NEED. In recent discussions on local government reform for Auckland, one feature of the problem scarcely has received the attention it deserves. This is fire-pro-tection. The omission is rather strange, since no better example of the need for reorganisation could well be produced, according to opinions gleaned from leading authorities on the subject yesterday. A good deal has been said lately about the tremendous fire loss, amounting to something like a million sterling, which the Dominion suffers every year. Most of this loss does not occur in the central areas of the large cities, where there is ample and efficient fire-protection, but in the suburbs and the country, where buildings are mostly of wood and the means of fighting fires are either inferior or lacking altogether. A leading New Zealand authority declared only a few months ago that 90 per cent, of the fire loss in Wellington was incurred in buildings lined with scrim and paper. The experience of Auckland is that of the Dominion as a whole. The fire record of the central city area, where most of the large and valuable buildings are concentrated, is remarkably good. Thanks to a good water supply and a remarkably well-trained and equipped fire brigade, the vast majority of outbreaks are stamped out in their early stages. When this happens, a small newspaper paragraph is the. only record, and the public goes about its business, little thinking what serious loss the untiring vigilance of the brigade has prevented. Change in Law Sought.

Of the suburbs the same cannot be said. The tale of houses gutted or burned to the ground, either because the brigade did not arrive in time or because there was not enough water, is a depressing one. Much of this risk to life and damage to property might be saved if the fire-protection of Greater Auckland were placed under one controlling body, with the personnel and equipment needed to do the work as it should be done.

The need was recognised at this year's conference of the fire boards of New Zealand, which adopted a resolution, submitted by the Auckland delegates, urging the Government to amend the Fire Brigades Act in such a way as to enable metropolitan fire districts to be created in the larger cities. This cannot be done satisfactorily at present, for the reason that if a fire board for two or more contiguous districts is set up, each local body is entitled to representation. There must be equal numbers of members appointed by the local bodies and the fire insurance companies respectively, so that in the case of Greater Auckland an impossibly large board would have to set up.

The resolution has been submitted to the Minister of Internal Affairs, but so far no action is known to have been taken by the Government. At the present time there are three fire boards in Auckland, having charge of Auckland City, the Borough of Onehunga, and the Mount Roskill Road District. Independent brigades are maintained by the Mount Eden, Mount Albert, Newmarket, and Avondale Borough Councils, the Ellerslie Town Board, and the One Tree Hill and Tamaki Road Boards. However, Avondale and Tamaki, together with Orakei, will soon come under the control of -the Auckland Fire Board. Costly Independence. Why this divided method of administration has been allowed to continue so long is hard to understand. It belongs to a bygone age, as most cities in Australia and the Old World have recognised. The standard modern practice everywhere is to have all fire-fighting under a single metropolitan body. What makes the situation in Auckland even more strange is that the suburban local authorities, by setting up fire boards, could compel the fire insurance companies to pay approximately half the annual cost of the brigades. By standing out they are paying highly for their independence and at the same time are getting a lower standard of fire protection.

Most of these districts have provided themselves with well-built stations and good plant, but they are dependent for the most part on volunteer effort for the actual fire-fighting. They maintain at best only the nucleus of a permanent brigade, that is to say, one or two men at the station itself. The others have to be mustered by bell or syren from their work, if the alarm is given in daylight, or from their homes if it is at night. Moreover, the districts are not provided with street fire alarm boxes, which are regarded as essential in modern fire brigade practice. Outside Auckland Citv, Onehunga alone has electric street alarms. Work For Professionals.

Everyone will pay al! possible honour to the zeal and public spirit of the amateur firemen, but it is obvious that the larger Auckland suburban districts, containing property valued at many millions, have gone far Deyond the stage at which they can afford anything less than permanent brigades, ready to answer an alarm at half-a-minute's. notice, day or. night. In residential areas, where practically all the buildings are of wood and fire* brigades may have to cover distances of a mile or moro, every moment is of value. Equipped with a fast engine and served by an efficient fire-alarm system, a small crew of trained fire-fighters can protect a large district if called out promptly. The money spent on their maintenance i 3 a true economy.

As things are in Auckland, the suburban districts controlled bv the Auckland Fire Board, with its four out-stations, have a remarkably good fire record. Some of the others have done well of late,'but there have been a number of regrettable incidents. Too often, as in the fire at Ellerslie a few days ago, several brigades are called out because the public in general does not know in which district a fire is situated. Under metropolitan control this confusion, which tends to cause delay, would not occur. Water Supply Delects.

Another defect is that some of the stations are not at the best strategic points. If a single body had the placing of them there would be several changes. For instance, the Auckland ■ Fire Board's engines have to pass through Newmarket or One Tree Hill to reach Epsom. One of the strongest arguments for unification has to do with water supply. This service must always remain under the control of the respectiye local bodies, but few of them would not benefit by the expert advice that could and would be given by a metropolitan fire-prevention authority. Many suburban areas have been reticulated solely with a view to ordinary household requirements. For example, one local body has no water-mains in its district larger than 4in. in diameter. Such mains, under the best conditions, cannot supply more than two leads of hose apiece, and if of r.nv length they prove almost useless for fighting a large blaze.

As Auckland's population grows, a comprehensive scheme of new water-mains for fire-protection becomes more and more iwessary. The recent fire in Churton Street, Parnell, was an object lesson, and at present the Auckland City Council and the Auckland Fire Board are making a thorough survey of the city's whole water-main system, testing both pressure and flow at hundreds of points with a special gauge and embodying the results in a series of maps and records. If a metropolitan board existed to advise, and if necessary enforce, its requirements upon suburban bodies, fewer buildings would burn for lack of water with which they might bo saved..