FIRE DANGERS.

New Zealand Mail, Issue 1775, 14 March 1906, Page 59

FIRE DANGERS.

RESTRICTION OF SCRIM AND PAPER. INSPECTION OF ELECTRICAL INSTALLATIONS. AND THE FIRE BRIGADES BILL. Tho annual address which Superintendent Hugo, of tho Fire Brigade, delivers at the brigade’s annual dinner is generally full of information and suggestion, and that delivered last night Avas no exception to tho rule. A YEAR OF GOOD FIGURES. During the eleven months —the Fire Brigade year does not c'ose till the end of this month —there had been. Superintendent Hugo explained, 14G calls. Of these 24 Avere 1 alse-alarins (14 of these being malicious ones), 20 Avere chimney-fires, 14 Averc goi.se and rubbish fires, and 88 Avere actual fires. The Superintendent expressed satisfaction that during the eleven months there had been no serious fire. 41 this state of things lasted another three weeks, the Wellington Fire Brigade Avould have the most successful year it had had for many years. The most serious fires had been outside the bounds of the city proper. There seemed to be a fatality attached to one part of the suburbs, and that was Kilbirme. There Avas ono-question he had referred to many times before, and no d-oubt Avonid have to refer to again, and that Avas the use in houses of scrim and paper. Ho gave instances of danger to life actually demonstrated in Wellington, on account of scrim 1 and papei. About two months ago a fire occurred in Walter street. This fire did not occu r in the middle c-f the night. father and mother were both dressed. ana down-stairs. It was a small four-room-ed Avooden lio-use; a candle AA’as left alight upstairs, and soon the Aihole place Avas on fire. The father and mother got the children out, but tne firo spread so rapidly tint four of. them Avero very seriously burned. Again, on Lambton quay, a fire occurred betAveen 9 and 10 a.in., and a boy upstairs was burned Avhilo getting out of a AvindoAV. That Avas due to scrim and paper. LEGISLATION NEEDED. Legislation or a by-law shoulcl be introduced to restrict the use or scrim and papei’. While not altogether confined to NeAV Zealand, scrim and paper AA’ere more in uso here than in any place he had come across. He would shoAV that this material Avas bad, if only from an £. s. d. point of vie Av. There Avas a fire in W 7 ill is street caused by a person foolishly using a candle Avhen oiling the tan of his gas-meter. When the tap AA*as taken out, the gas took fire. The meter Avas between the studs, there AA'as scrim and paper, and about £2OO of damage Avas done. A Aveek afterwards a AVoman in a house in Charlotte street did precisely the same thing. The brigade had further to go to put out tho fire, but the house ay as of* lath and plaster, and the damage AA'as about 15s. That AA'as a pretty good illustration from the £. s. d. point of view. (Applause.) It Ava.s not always realised Avdiat a siii'ill maigin there avp.s betAveen a fire and a conflagration. Baltimore AA r as a city of 530,000 inhabitants, and its Fire Brigade, Avliicli included 463 permanent men, cost £IOO,OOO a year. In a six-story building av:£?i Avooden floors, unprotected steel beams and girders, and unprotected iron columns —there Avere similar big buildings here—.a fire started at a little after 8 a.m. on a Sunday, and the automatic fir© alarm Avorkod. When the brigade arrived all the fire Avas in the basement, and they took in a small chemical hose, but in about seven minutes’ time there Avas a gas-and-smoke explosion which set fire to the whole building. A chemical engine Avas almost invaluable, but it AA'as not to be trusted altogether. He did not think the same tiling would have happened here, because they would have had at least a couple of deliveries at Avork, which would have finished such a fire. Past the first floor, they Avould be lost. In Baltimore they lost seven minutes, and the consequence Avao one of the largest conflagrations of* late years. FIRES CAUSED BY ELECTRICITY. Another old subject to AA'hich he must again refer Avas electricity as a cause of fires. He considered electricity the safest illuminant Ave had when it Avaa properly installed. The fault Avas Avhere it Avas not properly installed. In one quarter of the United States 115 fires were returned as duo to electricity (authenticated cases), while 80 were returned doubtful (they might be due to electricity). The returns showed that twenty were due to short circuit in interior wiring (a fault of the installation), six were due to the careless use of flexible cords (a thing lie had spoken of in this city), six due to faulty lamps, and five to material touching a lamp. This last was another thing he had frequently spoken about. He had often seen light materials hung on shades of lamps in shop windows, and though perhaps considerod an alarmist, had gone in and given warning of the danger, and the things had been taken away, bat he

sometimes saw them put back again afterwards. The trouble Avas inferior installations and materials, and the remedy Avas easy. It Avas being taken up in Australia, and NeAV Zealand Avas a little behind. In West Australia, and in Sydney, it Avas uoav required that all wiremen should he licensed. Our City Council had_ not the power, and the Government sTiould either give local bodies the power or do something itself. (Applause.) CASES FOR WHIPPING. He had before him a label from a benzine bottle, directing the user of the benzine to rub some on the garment to be cleaned and “expose it to tho sun or before a fire for a loav minutes.” The man who caused the printing of that should be whipped. Benzine avus frequently used to remoA'e spots and clean gloves, and _ he knoAV of tAVO cases of slight loss. Avhich might have been serious, through ignition of the benzine. He wondered bow many ladies in Wellington had been burned in this Avay or had had narroAV escapes, as in the cases he mentioned? It Avas a peculiar thing that , in Wellington and, everywhere, the greater number of accidents to firemen occurred in attending false alarms. Whether more notice Avas taken of such accidents ho could not say, but the greater number returned occurred in this Avay. They had had two such in Wellington. In Dunedin one man broke a thigh and tAvo other men were seriously injured; and in Auckland the same thing had happened. He hoped that any offenders detected in connection Avith false alarms Avould be adequately punished. (Applause.) In no calling Avas a superannuation fund more, necessary than in that of the fireman. (Applause.) They seldom saAV old men in fire brigades; sooner or later, they all Avent the same Avay —screwed up Avith rheumatism before they got old, and thus incapacitated. He thanked the Fire Police, the hon. surgeon (Dr Pollen), and the. Mayor and City Council for their support. (Applause.) THE INSURANCE COMPANIES’ VIEW-POINT. The toast of “ Insurance Companies ” was entrusted to City Councillor Ballinger, Avho expressed the opinion, that thcT duty of insurance companies was more in the -direction of reducing rates in return for effective fire-prevention than of contributing to fire brigades. He hardly thought their insurance friends realised the extent of the City Councils water storage at Wainui-o-mata. Mr R. M. Simp-on, manager of the Phoenix Insurance Company, said, in response, that fire insurance companies had a very high opinion of the standing a.ncl equipment of the Wellington Fire Brigade. Coni pared Avith America, for the number of its members the Wellington Brigade Avas very much up-to-date. As to the dangers of electric lighting badly installed, he Avould like to point out Avhat me insurance companies had done gratuitously. They inspected insured installations free of charge, and in this Avay tho greater part of the installations in Wellington had been inspected. But the Avork was becoming too heavy for the insurance companies. A matter to be attended to Avas the storage of stock such as explosives. WANTED—MORE MEN AND LEGISLATION.

Mr J. W. Brindley, manager of the State Fire Insurance Department, supported the giving to municipalities of power to inspect electrical installations, Avhioh should not be tho Avork of the insurance companies. Speaking Avith experience in the colonies and. at Home, he could say that he had never seen a better brigade, proportionately, than tho Wellington Brigade. There Avould havo to he volunteer fire' brigades in the suburbs. Tho City Council Avould bo aviso to do a little more for the Wellington Firo Brigade, and to give a feAV more men. "Tho State Department wished not to lose money, and to do its Avork commensurate Avith legitimate profits. Another matter of interest touched on AA'as the Fire Brigades Bill, concerning AA'hich Captain Hennali has evidently V;>-© of passage, in amended form, next session, for he expressed the opinion that the session should be momentous for fire brigades. In Victoria there Avere only two administrative boards, one for tho metropolitan area and one for country brigades. In New Zealand, he advocated, instead of the districts under tho old bill, one board for each island, or, at most, not more than one board for each of the principal centres.