The Wanganui Chronicle SATURDAY, MARCH 4. 1939. THE FIRE FIGHTERS

Wanganui Chronicle, Volume 83, Issue 53, 4 March 1939, Page 8

The Wanganui Chronicle SATURDAY, MARCH 4. 1939. THE FIRE FIGHTERS

"Q.\E of the lessons we learned from the destruction of the Social Security Building was the danger of fire,” is the gem of wisdom which fell from the lips of Mi'. Semple. The world will marvel at this remarkable discovery which merits being placed in the same bracket with that other outstanding achievement. namely, the way to roast a pig as recounted by Charles Lamb. The method which the Chinese formerly employed—so says the faithful chronicler—was to enclose the pig in a house and then proceed to burn lhe house down. When the house was destroyed the pig was usually cooked. Although perhaps it was not thoroughly appreciated before the destruction of the Social Security Building, fire does reduce buildings to ashes and debris and people have been able to entertain “'a suspicion as to what has happened.” By groping in their Stygian darkness eonccrniiig fires, they have come to the conclusion that it is better to prevent, them occurring in the. first, place father than to attempt Io put. them out, after they have commenced to destroy buildings. It follows then that the. fire fighters who are now in Wanganui—God bless ’em—for the purpose of holding their annual competitions, do their best, work before, fires ('ommence although, of course, their spectacular employment is provided when there is a good fire and a large crowd to get in their way and impede their operations. Nevertheless, it is strange but true that fire-prevention has been the latest, function to develop. Eire fighting occupied the minds of most people, before the brigades became organised. By an Act of Queen Anne, in 1708, each parish in London was required to maintain two “fyre engines” and ladders out of toe rates. This equipment was under the control ami management of tlie parish beadle. This was really a great step in advance of previous arrangements for in the Great Fire of London in 1661, tlie only known ‘‘fyre engine” was a brazen hand squirt of cast, brass, thirty inches long, which was operated by three mi 11, two holding tlie squirt by side handles, whilst a third man withdrew tlie piston, drawing the water in from a leather bucket: tlie discharging point of the squirt was then raised toward the burning building and the piston pushed in, driving the water out. This equipment, it was decided after the Great Fire had demolished tlie Capital, was inadequate, and next year the Council of tlie City of London rose to the occasion and directed that, the City should he divided into four districts, each of which was required Io provide “for lhe prevention and suppression of fires in the future. brazen hand squirts and leather buckets.” Fire fighting then got. under way and in 1698 the Hand-in-Hand Fire Office recruited a number of firemen from among the Thames watermen on the assumption that fire and water don’t go well together. Equipment, however, remained primitive. Tlie first step forward to fire fighting on a scientific scale (previously flic method had been to blow up with gunpowder adjacent buildings in order to confine the fire within a certain area), was evolved by the Dutch engineer, Van dec Heide, who made tlie first manual fire engine and flexible leather hose. During the eighteenth century the fire fighters were organised by the insurance companies, each office maintaining its own company of men, chiefly recruited from among sailors because of their ability to climb about buildings. This was essential because the method of securing escapes was for flic firemen to ascend to the roof of the burning building, drop chain ladders over the parapet and descend to the floors below and assist the inmates to escape to the roof. The first fire brigade properly organised on professional lines was founded in Edinburgh in 1824 when the police commissioners combined and formed tlie Edinburgh Fire Engines Establishment and it was this organisation which proved to be so efficient that it was copied throughout the country. New Zealand has, in its own way, evolved a method of combining professionalism and volunteer services and its efficiency is high indeed. [