FIRE FIGHTING

Wanganui Chronicle, Volume 74, Issue 188, 11 August 1931, Page 8

FIRE FIGHTING

NEW ZEALAND PLANT “BIGHT UP TO DATE” ( Per Press Association. ] WELLINGTON, Aug. 10. The opinion that New Zealand possessed modern fire-fighting apparatus and was not far behind 1 Australia, was expressed by Captain T. T. Hugo, formerly Government Inspector of Fire Brigades, who returned to Wellington to-day after a visit to Sydney, Melbourne, and Adelaide. Captain Hugo, who is president of the Incorporated Institute of Firo Engineers, said that Australia was little in advance of New Zealand, and so far as equipment was concerned, New Zealand was right up to date. The only type of machine in Australia which New Zealand did not possess was a very powerful pump, which was at Sydney.

A greater degree of efficiency was required in New Zealand than in Australia, by reason of the numbers of inflammable houses here. In Australia, stone and brick were largely used as building materials. The materials of which New Zealand dwellings were constructed—thin partitions and scrim and paper—were flimsy from a fire point of view. “In New Zealand, one has tu act first and think afterwards,” he said, “whereas in Australia, -with the stone buildings, one might have a look round first.”

In Australia there was centralisation to a much greater extent than in New Zealand. New Zealand had 52 fire boards, whereas in Sydney the Fire Commissioners controlled the fire prevention of the State. There were nine commissioners, representative of the volunteers, Government, insurance companies, and country towns. Melbourne had two fire boards, one for the metropolitan area and the other the country fire brigades’ board. Adelaide had one fire board, which controlled the greater part of the fire prevention. In Sydney there were about 40 fire stations in the metropolitan district, and in Melbourne about the same number.

Of the districts visited, South Australia, he said, was the one which had not made as much progress as the others. It appeared to be more or less at a standstill.