NEW FIRE STATION

Poverty Bay Herald, Volume LXIV, Issue 19375, 13 July 1937, Page 4

NEW FIRE STATION

PLANS IN READINESS Laim; er engine space LIVING-IN PROVISION Prepared by Messrs. West, Son, and I lorn i brook, plans for the new Gisborne fire station have been approved by the Fire Board and are now in readiness lor the calling of tenders for the erection of the structure. It is hoped that an early commencement will be made with the station, which, in addition to providing much improved facilities for the brigade, will add to the impressive character of Gisborne’s public buildings. Enlarged accommodation for the fire-engines is a feature of the building as planned, and when the brigade moves into its new quarters it will be possible to run out the whole of the fire-fighting plant without the slightest delay, through large main doors on the Palmerston road frontage.

Accommodation for permanent brigadesmen to live in close touch with the plant has been made, two sides of the engine-room being almost taken up with a series of nine bedrooms, while a reasonably spacious board room for meetings and a watchhouse will occupy the remaining space on those two sides. Parade-Ground Space

The rear of the ground floor is to furnish space for a mess-room and kitchen, a work-room for the repair of machinery and other items of the brigade’s plant, and a parade-ground for the personnel of the brigade, all under the one roof.

On the first floor, two fiats for the station officer and custodian and their families are to be provided, taking up that portion of the floor which is not given to the brigade's social hall. The ground plan of the new building covers an area of 7(ift. by 94ft., the shorter frontage being to Palmerston road.

Steel-reinforced concrete construction will ensure the building against damage by earthquake, and will minimise the possibility of fire damage, the earthquake hazard being that most seriously considered by .the board in weighing its building proposals. It will be remembered that during the earthquakes of 1931 and 1932, the possibility of the fire-fighting plant being buried in debris as the result of the old station collapsing in an emergency was one of the major risks faced bv the Borough of Gisborne, and the board is determined to take no chance of this risk being continued when the brigade is newly housed. The concrete structure will be faced with an attractive plaster finish, embellished with suitable motifs, and set off by a pannelling of black vitrolite surrounding the three main doors.