FIFTY YEARS AGO

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXXI, Issue 21887, 24 August 1934, Page 8

FIFTY YEARS AGO

AUCKLAND FIRE BRIGADES DEVELOPMENT WITH CITY REVOLUTIONARY CHANGES The modern and highly efficient firefighting organisation which protects the lives and property of Aucklanders has grown from beginnings now f or . gotten in the passage of time. [t ß remarkable development is a reflection of the growth of the city itself and like all other community services, jtg facilities and methods have undergone changes of a most revolutionary character. Memory of things as they used to be 50 years ago will be stirred in those of an older generation by quotation of a paragraph which appeared in the New Zealand Herald of Monday August 25, 1884. It was as follows:-! " An alarm was rung out from the Grey Street fire bell at about ten o'clock on Saturday night in answer to one from the Mount Eden districtbut, as the fire was seen to be in the direction of Onehunga, the brigade did not turn out." In the "fifties" and "sixties" the buildings of Auckland City were, with few exceptions, constructed of wood and fires were of constant occurrence. In those days fire-fighting appliances were of a most elementary character, consisting of buckets and, later, of reels and what would now be considered very primitive fire engines. There was a volunteer lire brigade and water could only be procured from wells or from the sea. With the passing of the years came the reticulation of the streets with water pipes, the growth of the suburbs and the extension of water supplies. Volunteer fire brigades were formed for the protection of the growing town until the stage was reached when the brigades had to be placed on a permanent basis. With the development of electricity came the modern system of alarms, replacing the old bells with which residents were so familiar. Horse-drawn engines gave place to motors; wooden buildings in the city were replaced by brick and concrete; automatic alarm's were installed in large business premises; and the personnel of the brigaded became more highly skilled in the task of combating the fire menace. Although the progress in equipment brought to the fire : fighlers aids the earlier brigades never knew, the development of the city brought problems in fire-prevention and attack that no early fireman was called upon to face. It became apparent that side by side with modern facilities must go principles of modern organisation, and a major step in this direction was taken comparatively recently with the formation of the Auckland Metropolitan Fire Board, which now keeps watch and ward over lives anrl property in a substantial area.