The Waipa Post. PUBLISHED EVERY TUESDAY AND FRIDAY FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 22, 1911. FIRE!!

Waipa Post, Volume I, Issue 46, 22 September 1911, Page 2

The Waipa Post. PUBLISHED EVERY TUESDAY AND FRIDAY FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 22, 1911. FIRE!!

AGAIN the dread cry " Fire 1" has been raised in our midst, and again cue Jrates have been kind to us in idling u* off witn lithe worse tiiaii a. vv tuning. We are a lucKy people, annost as lucky as we are easy going and indifferent. Our inaction in this direction niignt be termed worse than in cull ere nee, and may yet pxove even ciiminal neglect, tor in the aosence 01 any appliances, organisation or eaucation oi ourselves 111 nre hgnting we arc possibly opening tne way lor one o± more brave feiiows —yes, w have some of that sort in ic Awamutu as evidenced last i u-o----day night, who do not stop w study themselves or their "" omy decent suit" when their neighbour is in trouble —losing their lives in daring too much through the lack of proper material, or ignorance of dangers always obtaining at a fire. Eighteen months ago £20,000 worth of property was saved by the merest chance. The same properties were endangered again by the outbreak last night. What have we done since that warning of eighteen months ago ? Ask rather what we have not done. The chemical extinguishers used on that occasion have in the most cases not been replaced, and several valuable extinguishers which were empty at the time of that fire have been empty ever since. The bulk of the residents are expressing the wish that the poll for our water supply had been fixed for the day following this latest warning. Is not that rather an admission of deplorable inertness ; that we, like children or horses require some punishment to waken us to our responsibilities. What about safeguarding the town during the 12 or 18 months which must elapse before the installation of a water scheme. There will be a long stretch of time even though the matter is pushed on with all possible speed. Until the water is available and in the absence of anything better we would sugg :st the purchase of a doLibi; cylinder 70 or 80 gallon chemical engine at a cost of say £l5O, or if tnis is beyond our reach th n it every householder provide himself with a chemical extinguisher, costing from £3 A ~---. ' ' '" , )t in his own hoUoo ncJidj .u, iiae. The Town

Board should purchase and erect a firebell on the ringing of which every householder would pick up his extinguisher and go with all speed to the fire, where a team of trained men would receive,and under the direction of a leader, use them. Arrival at the fire in nine cases out of ten would prove that the extinguisher on the spot before the outbreak had saved the situation. Chemicals are of little or ".o use wh n a lire has burnt in;-: ugh or enveloped a building, ; t how often or what chance uld there be of a fire getting it length if chemicals were im-

mediately at hand. Every householder would have his own fire engine, and the hundred belonging to his neighbours would be at his disposal if his own failed. Three per cent of carbonic acid gas is death to any fire, and when it is remembered that extinguishers contain hundreds of cubic feet of that gas it will readily be admitted that they are invaluable in the incipient stages and before the fire has burnt through the outside walls. If the town wakes up some morning and finds the business portion in ashes then Te Awamutu will have no grievance if she is told, " Serves you right." Is the locking of the stable door to be deferred till the horse has gone ?