RICCARTON FIRE.

Press, Volume LXVII, Issue 20183, 11 March 1931, Page 9

RICCARTON FIRE.

V !»• NIJED 'FOR WATER, SUPPLY " ■ . --.v '' ■ i' \ f ' SUPERINTENDENT WARNER'S . REPORT. . t '

, Arising from the fire, in, Stafford strait,' Eicoarton; on March . the Fir# Board, at its .meeting latf night decided to "forward to-the.-Ricpajrtw , Borough in, order' jbhat. iti may appwoiate the wanner /in < which; the present inadequate water supply in the borough hampers the brigade, lowing' qlatise/frem the <rf Superintendent warmer f~» ' \ "At 1 8.21' a.m. t on. Monday, - Marph 2nd, the Brigade was called to_,' an outbreak of fire-in Stafford atjeat, Riccarto®. On arrival, the building was found -wall alight, nearest, water supply was one quarter mile away, the brigade tfjrfked 1 to - prevent the fire from spreading'to surrounding property. This ewphasizes the 'urgent \ necessity for - - a water 'pressure -supply, for* ftre , extinction /■ purposes in Ricflftrton,, or failing that proposal, for N ihe laying down of underground tanks'on the lines',of mypprevious .report of Feb--ruary, 1930.1" " The Circumstances jjet^uod. ■ The chairman T, M. -Charters) said that- as i the result of a - request made to - him to enquire about this fire,' he visited the locality with the Superintendent and the Beputy-iltfperintendent, who explained the circumstances to hw&, By the time £he telephone- alarm wag received at the station tne 1 fire well; it took the Brigade ten minutes to reach the fire, and by that time •the house upas half destroyed, -ine nearest water was the river, and py the time the hose had bafln run from the* house, to the river it was con» sidred that the othfr half the house would have cone. It was feared that in the meantime the fire wight spread to adjoining houses, and that the best policy was to Ijack the fences, down to prevent this; and the fences had been hacked down. 1 Heplying to Mr, K, W. Robinson, the oh'aisman said that the aotual dIS» "tance to the river, given, to ,him wa» i 1500 ft', and the distance at which" the superintendent, in 1 his .1930 report, , said that, he opuld handle a fire-from the source of the Wftter supply was 2000 ft, Mr Kobingon said that his reelection of the Superintendent's report, with regard to underground tanks, was that they should be at intervals of, not' less than 1500 ft from the river in Fendalian, * The chairman said that two und6r-1 ground Ijanks had bean constructed, Mr Robinson asked if the alarm was given promptly. The chairman said that ij; was given -by telephone, and' by that time the fire had a good hold 5 by, the tune* tbs -brigade reached the "hospital eer* per the reflexion was tremendous. - Ha suggested that it waa desirable that the questioh tank? io Riqeartw should be' reeonsideisd.'