NO DELAY IN FIRE CALL, SAYS POSTMASTER

Bay of Plenty Beacon, Volume 13, Issue 77, 13 April 1949, Page 4

NO DELAY IN FIRE CALL, SAYS POSTMASTER

Resentment at a section of ther,/ report given to the Beacon concern-/ ■ ing the Taneatua fire on Sunday \tJ night was expressed by the Tane-JQ atua Postmaster, Mr W. Rixon, on Monday. He said that our informant was quite mistaken -when he told us it took some'time to get through to Whakatane by ’phone. He wanted it made clear that there was no such delay. So we encouraged him to tell his version of the story. He says he was not awakened until 12.10 a.m., though the fire might have been discovered at 11.40. He went straight to the exchange and got 1 through to Whakatane without delay. He was put through to the Whakatane Volunteer Fire Brigade, he adds, and after he told them about the fire there was some hesitation on the part of the brigade as to whether they would come to Taneatua. They wanted to know who would pay the expenses. The postmaster said he told the brigade that he was not prepared to say who would pay, but there was a big fire raging at Taneatua % which was a serious threat to a block of shops and two dwellings. At this the brigade decided to come.

The brigade arrived at 1.40 a.m., the postmaster concluded, and in his opinion the fire was then well under control, having been checked by the bucket -brigade of local Taneatua residents.

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