THE SCHOOL FIRE.

Stratford Evening Post, Volume XXIX, Issue 78, 22 May 1911, Page 4

THE SCHOOL FIRE.

The fire at the Stratford District High School on Saturday afternoon is a particularly unfortunate occurrence for the district, as it will take a considerable amount of money to replace the building, and in the meantime much inconvenience will be experienced in carrying on scholastic work. While recognising that the members of the Fire Brigade—all of whom have to attend their daily labours—were on the scene as soon as possible after the alarm was given by the lirebell, yet had there been a paid official at the station when smoke was first noticed issuing from the budding, there is every possibility that the brigade . would have been on the ground in sufficient time '.o bare saved the school from such' serious damage. The jrood work the men did after arrival emphasises this fact. Fires in Stratford do not frequently occur in the day time, hut the conflagration of Saturday points to the necessity of some provision being made whereby the chief lire station may ho rung up both day and night. Not a particle of blame can be attached to the members of the brigade for their lateness on the scene on Saturday: a smarter and mere efficient body of men could hardly bo found in any town in the Dominion. The misfornno lay in the fact that there was no one at the station to give flic alarm when the lire was in an incipient stage, but this was not the fault of the brigadesrnen. The matter is one that the Borough Council should take into consideration at once.