FIRES IN CITY

Otago Daily Times, Issue 26349, 2 January 1947, Page 6

FIRES IN CITY

BRIGADE’S YEAR REVIEWED Two serious fires occurred in Dunedin during 1946, the resulting damage being valued at over £50,000. They were at British Chemicals, Ltd., in King street, and the Dominion Manufacturing Company, Ltd., in St. Andrew street, which provided the most important tasks for the Metropolitan Fire Brigade during the year. A total of 725 calls was answered by the brigade, compared with 585 in 1945. There was a large increase in gorse, grass, and rubbish fires, a considerable number of which were caused by sparks from locomotives. Many of the other fires could have been prevented as they arose from causes such as sparks from open fireplaces, copper fires, and the careless handling of electric heaters. Malicious false alarms were on a parity with the previous year, and the total of 40 was nowhere near the highest number of 73 recorded in 1942. The. detailed figures of the brigade’s activities are as follows (comparisons with the previous year are shown in parentheses)Property fires, 166 (152); chimney fires, 194 (181 J; gorse, grass, and rubbish fires, 157 (77); false alarms—malicious 40 (39), justifiable 62 (53); automatic, 77 (57); accidental, 29 (26).