Fire Wastage And Protection Measures Surveyed By Inspector

Bay of Plenty Beacon, Volume 12, Issue 3, 2 December 1947, Page 8

Fire Wastage And Protection Measures Surveyed By Inspector

i Recently there was placed before ■ the House of Representatives an interesting report on fire waste and fire protection in this country by the Dominion Inspector of Fire Brigades (Mr R. Girling Butcher). The report disclosed that for the year to March 31 last the loss in large fires (£1,009,630) was almost double that of the year 1928-29, which was the previous record. The insured fire loss in New Zealand for 1945, the latest year for which national figures have been prepared, was approximately £639,000. In past years the national loss has been estimated for the purpose of the reports by adding to the insurance payout an amount of 124 per cent to cover losses not insured. In 1945, however, there were two very large fires in Government stores (at Palmerston North and Te Awamutu) which together accounted for an uninsured loss of £660,000. So that the fire wastage—the estimated losses being on the low side —was certainly not less than £l,379,000. The fire losses in 1946 have also been high. The. report comments it is evident that the period of low losses which began in the depression and continued throughout the war years has come to an end. Fire losses tend to run in cycles of high and low loss. The reasons for this are not clear. They do not directly follow boom and depression periods, but probably have broad reference to economic conditions varied'in individual years by the. incidence of large fires. The number of fires during the period in which the loss exceeded £5,000 was nineteen, as compared with the previous record of fifteen in 1945-46. It is noteworthy that seventeen of these fires occurred between 7 p.m. and 7 a.m. This fact does emphasise the need for developing the fire services of the country. Fourteen deaths occurred in or from burns received at fires during the year. Eleven of the deaths occurred in or from burns received at fires during the year. Eleven of the deaths resulted from fires in dwellings. Two of these deaths were from an explosion of petrol vapours.