THE DANGER OF FIRE.

NZ Truth, Issue 59, 4 August 1906, Page 1

THE DANGER OF FIRE.

The Cliief 'Justice sounded a muchneeded and timely warning note when he alluded, the other day, to our shamefully narrow streets and to the extreme, likelihood that exists of a iate similar to that which befel San •Francisco, ■' after the earthquake of Apr-il 13, befalling Wellington, if ever any similar seismic disturbance" should arise ; i.e., that the whole city would immediately be, swept' away by iir.e.,a disaster more.oappall-; ing and nibjce cosily than evj&v a big: There caliche , no! doubt butßhat the ' conditions, ynSau; Francisco favored ■■■ the' occurrence of the dreadful conflagration ; / but . there can also be none ■on 'the subject of" Wellington's; similar liability. ; The conditions arc even more favorable to fire m tiiis> city \than they .were, m San Francisco. , it is^ ;true, : there were nailes of streets, initheVre-: SKkntial portions of; the citjv 'theho«ses of which were all ' wood, and acres of them— as in' China Town — of very \pl.d. and tinder-dry wood at-' that.' ln\ feet,, if a.,bonfire,had ; beec. specially huiliif one : many •icrcs, and designed fo excel all; previous records jj> the bonfire lineing tetter I#aV 'Frisco's China Towa sould biife v^een designed. Indubitably rt was, v^hina Town that <caused the tfcart-'breaking destruction o* tho Hopkins Art Institute, that '. stood ])y itself,: clear of any other buildings, on the fixst tall crown of Oall-fornia-street, and was deemed, safe ifrom any ordinary five- But below it ;— absolutely, by i^? venerable brick wall?, fending ..the* vile Jiorrors of Dupont-street from the superb Hopkins home, translated into the Institute by that deceased dilletante millionaire's beneficence, stood the oldest ißomau Catholic Church m the city,, St. Mary's; and, on the other corner the oldest Episcopalian Church, and when the fire from the hideouu Hell of the "bad 'quarter" tore through those great >piles, away went ihe comparatively isolated Hopkins Art Gallery and after it, on both sides '•' of California-street, the mighty mansions of "Nob Hill," with their inva- , luable treasures of furniture, foric-a--''brae and art, collected from all corbers of tlie globe. Each of thesejnansions, some. 6f them almost rival- ' 'line m size our Own "largest w;bodeh , , )hv. iMing m the .world , ' ' ;^tood m jte ;. )crwn grounds, the closest; packed be- •'• 4nR fiillv fifty £ards ir^m its, nei^. "bor— (if Jthere ;we|e two >ssmear—p r near— and yet they went down "before the fire iking— absolute m aster, for ones— like so many dry tussocks before a galedriven Ivjsh conflagration. ■".'•■• ■ '•■ «. ■Tlift.* wcu; because tho Fire Brigade' Jia<l no water and were consequently . Jittlc bettor than a platoon of aol-. ' difir- turned out to disorder a> i\ burn-up. And to understanil what that must have meant one needs to know the San Francisco Fire Bri,,'gadc—the most efficient and \H*g ■proudest of its. traditions and it^won..dcrful "saves" in.aU'the round world. .Ona of the show items of, the United • States was the San Francisco Fire Brigade, with its marvellous uprtod;Ue enftiiiea— wortli thousands m gold . and . silver ornamentation alone-rrits magnificent teams of horses (moltly, .Krey,s.) wi-th their almost superhuman intelligence and their lightning feeti •thai; trod glassy^cobblestones, down dcsjierate deiClivities*j^uitc aSiass,urediy.aud almost as securely as they did the- level blocks of Market-street, ; or the bitumen of Van Ness Ayejiue. In .Sr.ii Francisco, there were stations m eTsry ward and each station was numbered. When an alarm was runp. m, the station did not toll a clatteriuj; bell., -It simply tooted on a sonorous sy'riai, one long call and then, slowly, its number, and at the same •time the 'phone was busy all round Ihe other stations. Everybody knew instantly the locality of the fire, an<l at -cvecy station the superb horserj dashed into the pole and lead (fou;: Worses to each -one of the almost bai:})arically oniatu engines of tho latest pattern), the motorengines sighed and gasped and strained ready for pAleap out itito the open, the men sprang (iollieir perches, and all was ready for p. desperate, grim fight with the common enem\v. if such were needed. It. r»w; rarely," indeed, that more than a kxCheinical and one engine was required ifco quell «. fire, for the reason that eiirh distriefc division was so complete and pvrfeeh and so jealous of ever re<}uiiinjr,. aid from other branches. In fth'j great earthquake fire of April, /thess Tire-fighters par excellence were | 'Imniiicapucd "from the jump." Their j

chief, a man born for the post, Sullivan by name, and> a splendid, quickr brained, athletic, alert, ambitious Irish-American by naturCj was killed by a brick wall that fell and crushed liis house at the very first jar. Perhaps it was m mercy, for his subsequent, helplessness, when never more needed iii all his bright career, "would probably have sent him to the insane asylum, and it is better any time to bo dead than mad. The best Fire Brigade oh earth was San Francisco's. Its saves, even when huge-piles of skyscrapiing w^ooden hotels and roortiing f houses seemed hopelessly doomed, Vwer? the wonder and admir- : ati6n'6f ! all who saw them or inspected'; the damage afterwards. But it was; helpless and useless when tho earthquake brolcs the water "mains am 1 , smashed up Wie gas pipes and let the gas , out to meet iire and spread t-hs awful dames. And m San Franciscc money was never considered when tho estimates for the Hre-fighting wrmy cams up for consideration. Here.- -we have just as strong reason's for. the maintenance of an erflcient Brigade. We, -too, have miles of wood-built streets', and crowded slums and ' great wooden buildings. TheY scale is smaller ' than m Sin ■Francisccy it is true, and the wealth less; '"while we have no China Town as essentially distinct from other .parts of > the low quarters. But neither have we anything like the Fire : Brigade efficiency that unfortunate San Francisco had. Our Brigade is vsmart and Veil drilled and the individuals of it are fully seized of the extraordinary responsibility that rests upon their shoulders. But the staff is numerically small, ridiculously so, and Wellington is cursed, by reason, of its topography, with many places ,much harder to reach m a hurry tha-n the few worst m San Francisco. Even without a n earthquake, Wellington. Brigade would find a really big:; fire a serious, perhaps unconquerahle,. foe to combat. There are awkward* hills to, climb and there are places where the narrow streets and the crowded wooden shacks would, once well alight, defy any water supply and almost any engines to extinguish them. Any wonder then, that people per-use with > avid interest the report of'- Superintendent Hugo and ' fervently hope that. his recommendations may be carried out. The City Council, at its last meeting, adopted its Committee's report on the subject, where T m it was proposed to strengthen Mir Hugo's hands and his. staff ; and this cannot be done too - soon. We have stronger winds than San Francisco and. less chances— such as vacant lots and broad streets— of any natural stay of a fire that got out of hand. It. is one thing knocking out an incipient blaze, and quite another trying to drown a huge conflagration. Ami yet such a crisis is likely to arrive at any moment. The Council must banish any narrow schemes of economy, where such a vital possibility exists and. -moreover, the Insurance Companies must be forced to pay a> share of /Mis whole expense of fire-fighting commensurate with their share- of local: ■business. • '.«■".• • p. X the earthquake came, o ur plight>as regards fire-prevention, would bo worse' even than was that of San Francisco, for it would be too much to hope that our water mains would escape damage, while we arc more crowded into a small/ space and have usually , stronger winds— a position that would make the City of Wellington a veritable fireplace with a "forced draught." That, however, is something man can hardly guard against. What can be fairly provided for is ordinary possibilities ; and private paoplc should be forced to come into line on the question oi the general public safety. Such complaints as that read befote the Council, on the same • night, as the Fire Brigade Committee's report, by which it was stat- | ed that that fashionable resort, the j Hotol Arcadia, was anything but rcafe from serious possibilities, should Iv. rendered impossible /at any cost. The letter of Dr. Van Slykc— which *oad been originally addressed to the police authorities— stated that rooms m that temperance caravanserie were so small that many lodgers had to keep their luggage m the corridors, which were thus dangerously narrowed m case of panic. Then the fire-es-capes were blocked with old bedding and similar rubbish ; so that it was considered by b the writer, m the . event of fire or earthquake

scare, loss, of life would be' inevitable.: In due course Dr. Van Slyke's. letter reached the Superintendent . :of ; the? .Fira- Brigade, ••wha^a^\pnice,:--^9^^!e_%: to investigate : -''i,andV.-,:.|prind: : Wat> ii^ts charge^' were ! 'in^th^ nVUiii well; fouhcU-; ed, particularly as to the blocking of\ the fire escapes, the manager being cautioned as a consequence. But is* the Arcadia the only public hostelry that requires supervision m these matters % It is extremely doubtful. Meanwhiie%increased powers should be' given to- the Superintendent of the* Brigade and the supine, easy-goiii'S Council should wake up and see to it that its officers do their duty without waiting for private individu- i als to force it upon them: It would' cost millions to rebuild Wellington, to say nothing of the primary loss, desolation, rain, death and despair. A few thousands spent on prevention,, then, would b 3 worth a few millionslaid out m cure. ■''.'..'■