GOOD RESPONSE

Timaru Herald, Volume CXLIX, Issue 21957, 8 May 1941, Page 4

GOOD RESPONSE

Volunteers For Fire Fighting Need For Staff Training An excellent response has been made to the appeal in Timaru for volunteers in the fire fighting unit of the Emergency Precautions Scheme, said the Superintendent of the Timaru Fire Brigade (Mr E. W. McCann) yesterday. The men have shown themselves very keen and interested in the work, and the parades on Tuesday and Thursday evenings have been well attended. “On the other hand," Mr McCann continued, “it is a pity that a better response has not been received from the business people, who were asked by a circular issued by the Mayor (Mr W. G. Tweedy) and through other publicity to co-operate with the Fire Brigade by organising their staffs for fire prevention on their own premises. This form of training has been very successfully carried out in London and has been wholeheartedly taken up in the cities of the Dominion. In Wellington alone 600 employees are attending at the Fire Station for instruction.” He added that the officers and staff of the Timaru Fire Brigade were prepared to instruct employees in fire prevention and control and to give all possible information to the employers so that their valuable stocks could be protected and the livelihood of the employees preserved. Mr McCann emphasised the necessity of employee training from a quotation from a British publication: “It is obviously of vital importance that as many of the public as possible should be in a position to deal with fires on their own property. First aid appliances operated by hand are of use for dealing with fires in their early stages. Brought into use promptly, and operated efficiently, they can be of the utmost service in preventing small fires developing into large ones.” The Timaru Fire Board, Mr McCann continued, had repeatedly pressed on the Government the vulnerable position of Timaru and the necessity of extra trailer pumps for the more adequate protection of many national assets. The Government had now recognised the need and word was received yesterday that Cabinet had agreed to supply free two extra trailer pumps for the emergency Are service in Timaru. The trailer pump and bucket pumps already ordered by the Board should arrive within a few days.