FIRE PREVENTION

Colonist, Volume LVI, Issue 13598, 7 October 1914, Page 6

FIRE PREVENTION

<To the Editor of "The, Colonist.")

Sir, —The happenings at the receut fire in Kawai street and the lamentable failure of the water supply must have impressed Nelson citizens with the fact that on the high levels of the city the water supply is absolutely useless for fire prevention. It seems that the time is rijKS for the fir©'brigade-to be equipped with a chemical engine, so.that it would have some chance of renderingeffective service and not have to stand with scorched faces and holding hose iiozzles out of which not even a trickle of water can be obtained. The very least that should bo^ clone is to supply, each hose station and hose' red witn a chemical fire extinguisher, .so that an incipient fire might .bo checked... It seems poor encouragement to the enthusiastic and capable fire brigade to leave them absolutely incapable of taking any active part in fire prevention in the RTeat majority of the files in the city, and it is, moreover, giving a false sense of security to householders who feel they oan rely on the -services of the brigade when a conflagration occurs. If the pressure of water is so poor in the spring it must of necessity be worse in the summer, and the City Council should take immediate measures to place firo prevention in Nelson on a proper footing. I am, eto.,

PREVENTION Nelson. October 6th, 1914.