AIDING FIRE-FIGHTERS

Sun (Auckland), Volume IV, Issue 972, 15 May 1930, Page 8

AIDING FIRE-FIGHTERS

ASBESTOS SUIT FOR MEN MANY MODERN INVENTIONS An asbestos suit with a smoke helmet, j very similar to a diver’s suit, and fitted with its own oxygen plant, telephone | apparatus and safety devices, is but one of the modern inventions which is j helping to decrease fire danger, ac- j cording to Mr. R. E. Stubington, a j director of Merryweather and Sons, j Ltd., a London firm famous for its fire engines and apparatus. Mr. Stubington will be in New Zealand on business for about three weeks. He left Auckland last evening for Wellington. The theory of fire-fighting today is the use of force rather than of huge quantities of water poured over the flames, frequently doing more damage than .the blaze itself, says Mr. Stubington. The demand is for high-pres-sure pumps which can knock out the fire at its seat. Oil fires require special handling, since water merely spreads the blazing oil over a large area. Streams of bicarbonate of soda or allum and of acid are pumped together into the flames, combining to form a blanket of “lire suds” which cuts off the air supply. Nearly all bulk storage tanks are being fitted with these devices and brigades the world over are adding foam producing plants to their equipment for use in garage fires. There is still the danger of oil accidentally emptied into a harbour by tankers becoming ignited, Mr. Stubington admits, but authorities are now taking steps to prevent any such outbreak. Automatic fire alarms in all business premises, connected by private wires to the central fire station, are a necessity since an outbreak, if it is to be dealt with effectively, must be attacked in its early stages. This is especially difficult with high buildings which make it difficult to reach the seat of the fire and act in the manner of chimneys in drawing up the flames. Outlying suburban and country brigades are finding trailer units essential. Two of these pumps, which can be drawn behind the engine, are in use in Gisborne. The firm Mr. Stubington represents has been engaged in aiding fire-fighters for the past 250 years. Two rooms of the British Museum are filled with collections of some of its equipment, and relics of the Great Fire of London are included in the company’s private museum at the Greenwich factory .