THE "SENTINEL'S" CALL

Wanganui Chronicle, Volume 74, Issue 138, 13 June 1931, Page 6

THE "SENTINEL'S" CALL

FIRE BRIGADE TURN-OUT MODERN AUTOMATIC ALARM AV ANGA N U I ’S EFFI C 1 EN T FIREFIGHTHRS. i After watching the latest automatic I lira alarm at work one might be pardoned for believing that the day is not far away when, before fires start, they will give man fair warning as to when and where to look for an outbreak. The “Chronicle” building has just been lifted with a Sentinel automatic air-pressure alarm and a demonstration of the efficiency of this modern means of lighting the fire fiend was given yes-

terday. Under Superintendent Williams the brigade turned out to the Sentinel’s call, and our minute thirty seconds elapsed from the time the alarm s was registered in the station until th»* i hose was in position to chock the “lire.” j Members of the Wanganui Fire Board (I and managers of insurance companies <. doing business in the city witnessed the e turn-out. The “Chronicle” reporting j staff checked the brigade’s time by stop- . watch ami also witnessed the departure I of the engine from the station. The Sentinel alarm is made to funer tion as the result of the escape of com pressed air. A cylinder, similar to the type used to feed benzine house lights, has connected to it a series of hollow wires. These lead into every room and passage-way in the building and, in turn have thermostats attached to each terminal. The thermostat breaks under heat of about 138 degrees fr., and this results in the escape of compressed air from the wire. As the pressure eases the mechanism, situated just inside a window fronting the street, functions and an electric call registers at the fire station. At the same time a slide slips

down in the box containing the mechanism ami, through glass, is visible to people in the street. This reveals, by a system of numbers, the floor on which the fire is located. Thus the brigade, arriving on the scene, can tell at a glance the approximate location of the trouble. Yesterday’s demonstration was in- ■ itiated by a match being held under a thermostat on the ground floor. Aleanwhile, a reporter had installed himself in the watch house of the fire station. There everything was as usual. There were two men in sight, the Superintendent and the officer on watch. The three engines were silent and the outward appearance of the station was the same as it is every day. In the watch house, a room of dials, of switches, clocks, telephones, bells and maps, the man on duty discussed the weather, answered the telephone now and again and was purely carrying out his duties in the ordinary way, listening to the minutespaced clicks which told of tho street alarm apparatus being in order. At 2.48 p.m. exactly the heat of the wavering match in the “Chronicle” office resulted in the Insistent clang of the alarm bell at the station and the ticking, ticking of the white tape spelling out the location of a fire. The officer on duty glanced al the perforations in the tape, let his left hand pull over the general alarm signal and, in

a second, the whole station resounded to the call of bells. Aten appeared as if by magic from different rooms. Hel met* and tunics were donned as they ran. The place which had been quiet and still became thoroughly alive. The whirr of No. 3 motor followed and above the clang and din could be heard tho watch-house officer’s call of “Chronicle Cflice. p The reporter counted five, clearly and distinctly, commencing when the tape started ticking, and in that time the Superintendent, and five me’i, mounted on No. 3 engine, were away ro the “fire” taking a course via Wilson Street and Taupo Quay. One minute thirty seconds after the first tick of the tape the hose was ready to play water on the danger zone. It was a turn-out which testified to the marked efficiency of one of the best brigades in the Dominion.

In the station the same routine was followed as that usual at a genuine fir;. The watch-house attendant advised No. 2 station (Castlecliff) that there was a lire in “A” area, and the city turn cock to hold himself in readiness to supply full pressure. Into the “Jog” book was entered this brief but informative paragraph: “June 12, 2.48 p.m, received call by street fire alarm to “Chronicle” office. No. 3 motor with Chief and five men turned out. Water pressure 130 lbs.” One the tape appeared four punctures close together, a space and then a single puncture, this being interpreted as a call from No. 41. Clearly typed on the tape were figures denoting the day. the month, the year and the time of the call. Truly the working of that mechanism was human. The Sentinel system is held to bo the most modern of the automatic alarms. When a city is well equipped with fire fighting services the great factor is to get them to the scene of the trouble quickly. With a Sentinel apparatus a great feature is that the fire is localis ed when the alarm is given. For instance. there is a thermostat in the reporters’ room. If the temperature there was to increase to 138 degrees a call would be registered at the station, resulting in the brigade arriving before the flames had got beyond the one room. Superintendent Williams speaks in very high terms of the apparatus and stresses how valuable an aia n js to a brigade. Insurance companies allow a rebate of 25 per cent on premiums when the system is installed. Mr Msrklund is tho inventor and he explained the workings of the mechanism to a very interest party of spectators at yesterday’s “fire.” The mana ger of the company which is installing the Sentinel is Mr Geoff. Porter, the inventor of the automatic street alarm.