The Star. WEDNESDAY, MARCH 9, 1898. FIRE PREVENTION.

Star (Christchurch), Issue 6123, 9 March 1898, Page 2

The Star. WEDNESDAY, MARCH 9, 1898. FIRE PREVENTION.

AX INTERVIEW WITH SUPERINTENDENT SMITH. INTERESTING AND INSTRUCTIVE DETAILS. Superintendent E. Smith, the veteran cliief of the Christchurch Fire Brigade, is a fireman at once practical and scientific, whose experience of many years in all the grades of the brigade has been supplemented by much arduous study of what may be termed the science of the fireman's work. Mr Smith's opinion on all questions connected with fire prevention is, therefore, entitled to the respect which wide knowledge and experience ever command, and as public attention has been . directed to that subject by the recent gathering of the firemen of the colony at Auckland, and in grimmer fashion by the terrible nres have raged there and in other parts of New Zealand of late, readers of this journal will, no doubt, be interested I to know his views on a matter affecting their own interests as well as those of the ™¥s m other cities of the colony. SS Dg that Superintendent Smith has visited many parts of New Zealand, and Sf™ Y CCI \ r ? te kn °wledge of all that is Stio d r o fS^ &, «*"**! the hoi- n r prevention, a ineinto „oL- U \. Staff waited on ' him ChSShi' aS to the question of how with the S? c °mP ared in that respect i^ New 7S er ? ief centres of Population the^ue«!oS md '<. Mr Smith ' s re P lies t0 saLSS put to him ™re decidedly satisfactory as to both division of the i

subject. He considers the fire brigades of New Zealand, as a Whole, very creditable, composed of brave, active and capable I men, and fully equal to those of any other colony, or the provincial towns in the Mother Country. Christchuroh he deems to be the best provided city in the colony in regard to fire-prevention appliances, though not free from certain defects. His answers had, however, better be given in his own words. I AUCKLAND. Asked as to the condition of affairs in the northernmost city of New Zealand, Superintendent Smith replied :— " Auckland is fully thirty or forty years behind the age in reference to fire-preven-tion appliances. The city has a highpressure -water supply ; very good in the .ower parts of the t> <wn, but Very weal? in. the higher portions. The plant of the brigade is of the most antiquated kind ; it has made no improvement in thirty years. They want good hose, new ladders of the modem type, also a chemical engine and a steam fire engine, which is absolutely necessary to supplement the high-pressure supply in case of a fire in a tall building which the latter cannot, reach. There is hardly one building in ten in the business part of Auckland in which the brigade could successfully cope with a fire with their present appliances. The Fire Brigade station is a mere shed ; one or two men sleep there in bunks, and the superinttnlent lives in a cottage next door. The men are paid £8 and £10 a year, and the superintendent receives an annual salary of ,£213. The total cost of the brigade of thirtynine men, is .£9OO a year. The means of giving an alarm are as bad as the plant. The firemen depend for information mainly on persona telephoning to the station, through the medium of the exchange. When a message intimating a fire is received, a man is sent up the tower, and the brigade does not leave the station till he announces that he can see a blaze, by -which time it is practically too late to do any good. This plan accounts for the heavy losses characteristic of Auckland fires, which during the last four months have destroyed property to the value of .£85,000. I feel certain that an expenditure of .£2OOO in proper plant and decent accommodation for the men would have saved .£60,000 of that sum. The Brigade is entirely supported by the City Council, which has sole control of it. The men are a good lot, able-bodied, active, willing, obedient, and not frightened at any danger ; but they can,do little from want of a modern alarm system, efficient plant and proper means of getting it promptly to a fire; there is only one horse, kept at a livery stable next door to the station, available for this purpose. There are suburban stations, at Newtown, Parnell. Mount Eden and Ponsonby, where a hose reel and a few men are kept. On the whole, the fire prevention appliances of this fine city, with its large and valuable buildings, are unworthy of a third-rate town. WELLINGTON. "At Wellington- there is a fairly good high-water pressure, which is not always to be depended on, and is not strong enough to throw water to the top of the tall buildings in sufficient quantity to be of any service in case of a serious fire. The fire brigade consists of forty men, with two stations, maintained by the municipality at a cost of over .£IBOO a year. The men are paid— twenty-three at £12 a year, the officers £20 and £30, and the superintendent, who. lives at a station, £225. Twelve men Kve at the stations. The plant is not by any means adequate to the requirements of the city. It consists of two hose reels and of a couple ; of waggons for taking the men and .gear to fires. They have a small • fire escape and several common ladders,

none of which are capable of being used effectively at a fire in a tall building. They are sadly in need of a telescopic ladder, which will stand up independent of a building, similar to the ladders in Christchurch and _ Dunedin. They also want a chemical engine for use outside the radius of the high-water pressure, and a really good steamer, for there are many buildings in Wellington which if they got thoroughly alight oould not be extinguished by the present wator supply. The alarm system is very defective; the brigade depends, to a large extent, upon telephone messages. The members of the brigade are of a good stamp, brave, active, and willing, but they are handicapped for want of proper appliances, and as the captain of the fire brigade has said, some day they will have to stand by powerless and watch some of the finest buildings in Wellington destroyed for want of a little additional water pressure, and more modern plant generally. DUNEDIN. " The water supply at Dunedin is a good high-pressure one. The plant is up to date as regards ladders, hose reels and hydrants, but the firemen hare often felt the want of a little extra pressure at large fires, and that can only be obtained from a good steam fire engine. The facilities for taking the plant to a fire are good — horse i are kept in readiness both day and night ; and the alarm Bystem is very good, similar to that in Christchurch. The Brigade itself is as efficient as any in N«w- Zealand, and the station is One of ttie finest in the colony. The brigade consists of nineteen men, ten of whom reside at the station ; fifteen are paid ,£l6 a year, two officers £20 a year, the superintendent .£l5O, and the engine-keeper .£75. The total cost is ,£650 a year, the whole of which i 3 borne by the City Council. On the whole Dunedin is well protected against the ravages of fire, the sole requirements being a steamer, and, I think, a chemical engine or two. INVF.RCA.EGILL. " Invercargill has a high-pressure water supply, the pressure being obtained from a high tower to which the water is pumped. The pressure is not- equal to all requirements, but is sufficient to deal with any ordinary fire, and there are a steam fire engine and a manual engine to supplement it in case of necessity. The brigade consists of twenty-four men, eighteen at £6 a year, one At. .£lO, one at .£ls, one, an engine keeper, at .£39. The total average cost is about JJ2OO, which is provided by the municipality. There is no proper alarm system, and the station is fairly good. CHBISTCHUKCH. "There is no need to say much about Christchurch, as the public know all about the appliances we have. I may say, hovevev, that we have two 'steaniers, both of which are kept with water heated. I notice that at the inquest on the last great fire in London the jury recommended that in future two steamers should be kept under steam at certain stations in the city, which has bean done in Christchurch for some years past, thus showing that we are not behindhand here. There are two chemical engines, the only ones in the colocy, the value of which has been so often jjroved by "their having saved thousand of pounds' worth of property through checking fires in their beginning. A second at the commencement is worth more, from a fireman's point of view, than several minutes are afterwards. Hence the usefulness of the chemical engine, and that usef ulness, toagreat measure, ongettingthe engine to the fire with the greatest possible speed. We also have a manual engine, now chiefly used for drill purposes, a fire-escape 40ft high, and a telescope-ladder 65ft high, both locally made. The absence of a highpressure water supoly renders fire prevention in Christchurch more difficult than in any other centre. The water-th* .tanks and the river-is so situated that the brigade often has to lay 2000 oi 3000 feet of hose in order to reach afire, and this necessitates much more tofk, wear and tear of hose and delay than there would be if the men had only to affix a hydrant to a fire-plug . close by. The brigade, since its reorganisation, consists of thirty members, twenty-one of whom \i iifi a year four .£2O, one .£25, "iSfcim and keeper, .£IOO, and the eugine-dinei an * ffSSaetaTout^lOOO, against which must be°set some .£320 a year received from V Than boroughs for the brigades' suburDa rtj ir j s fcchurch has also the services Sttle'Kailwayßrigade.which has one of «\fir,n C fqteftin fire engines in the colony, J? of the Government. The ekctSS -system in Christchurch is

one of the best in- tho colonies. Though it is frequently abused by weans I of false alarms, it has proved its utility many times, and has, combined with the chemical engines, been the means of checking many a fire which would otherwise have been very serious. The arrangements for horsing the engines are now fairly complete. After four o'clock in the afternoon the Corporation horses are at the stables ready to convey the plant anywhere. They are liable to be called out at any time in the day for that purpose, but it sometimes happens that their work takes them to places remote from the stations, and to obviate the delay thus caused,' the Fire Brigade Demonstration Committee, two years ago, presented ; two horses to the City * Cwnott on condition. . that two ai'S kept at the Lichfield Street station for use jn the chemical engine at -all hours during the daytime. To make Christchurch perfect in regard to fire prevention appliances we want two things, more water and an up-to-date central station, both of which would tend to effect a great saving to the ratepayers by diminishing the working expenses of the brigade. "To classify the five centres in order of merit of their fire prevention appliances, I would place Chrißtchurch first, Dunedin second, Wellington third, Invercargill fourth, and Auckland last."