FALSE FIRE ALARM

Taranaki Daily News, 29 April 1931, Page 7

FALSE FIRE ALARM

CAPTAIN HUGO “CAPTURED.” OLD-TIME PONSONBY INCIDENT. Life as an inspector of fire brigades has not been without its humorous episodes, episodes which Captain Hugo still chuckles over when narrating. Many years ago, he relates, he was in Auckland. As inspector, it was not an infrequent practice of his to give a false lire alarm in order to test the rapidity with which the brigade would appear on the scene. On this occasion, seeing a newly-installed stieet alarm in a I’onsonby street, he had a niiijd to repeat his previous practice. Breaking the glass of the alarm and pressing th, button, Captain Hugo stood there, watch in hand, to time the brigade’s arrival. What Captain Hugo did not know, spvs the Dunedin Star, was that there had been recently in that neighbourhood a series of malicious false alarms; so many, in fact, that a reward was offered for the detection of the malefactor. But a passing citizen did know, and, seeing Captain Hugo break the alarm and not seeing any sign of a conflagration, immediately had visions of annexing the reward. Without hesitation he grappled with Captain Hugo, at the same time yelling lustily for the police. In a shorter space of time than it took the brigade to reach the scene, a big crowd gathered, and paptain Hugo, despite his protestations and explanations, 'wps efficiently captured. When the brigade turned up simultaneously with the police, the captured giver of false alarms was triumphantly handed oyer to the authorities with the wellsatisfied captor mentally calculating upon the expenditure of the monetary reWard which he felt sure would be his.

“You can picture the tableau,” says Captain Hugo now when telling the story, “when the brigade was confronted by its revered chief—somewhat battered, but still recognisable. Mutual recognition, explanation, apologies arid a. handshake, and my captor departed rather crestfallen.”