FIRE ESCAPES.
DISTURBING STATEMENT. (By Telegraph —Press Association.) AUCKLAND, Friday. Doubt about the efficiency of the common fire escape extensively used in many city buildings was cast by Mr W. L. Wilson, superintendent of the Auckland Fire Brigade, in his evidence in the bachelor flats” appeal to-day. Commenting upon the provision allowed in plans for fire exits, consisting of a fireproof staircase and fire escape ladders down the exterior walls, Mr Wilson expressed the opinion that neither of the methods could be regarded as a safe means of escape: in Die event of a conflagration. The chairman (Mr W. M. Page): Do you mean to say that many of the fire escapes you sec so frequently in New Zealand towns would be deathtraps? Mr Wilson: "In many cases that would be so.” Witness supplemented his remark by saying that the act of descending a scries of vertical or semivertical ladders for a distance of <ott. or SOft. was a difficult matter for elderly people, and the risk of them falling under the stress of excitement was by no means to be ignored. As far as flats were concerned, he considered that there should be two exits from every flat for emergency use in case of fire.
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Bibliographic details
Wairarapa Daily Times, 12 October 1929, Page 2
Word Count
206FIRE ESCAPES. Wairarapa Daily Times, 12 October 1929, Page 2
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