FIRE BRIGADE MATTERS

Dominion, Volume 8, Issue 2480, 5 June 1915, Page 15

FIRE BRIGADE MATTERS

? 6 t SUPERINTENDENT VISITS h AUSTRALIA. :s a Superintendent Tait, of tho Wellington Fir© Brigade, who Las iust returned s from a visit to Sydney and Melbourne, (I thinks that on tho wholo wo havo little e to learn with regard to brigade worka uig. He noticed in Sydney that tho e brigadesmen's outfit—helmet, tunic, and 1 hung on pegs under nnme hers on the station walls, showing that jj Oil an alarm being received time must be lost by the men having to change tlieir clothes, and time was everything in dealing with iircs in incipient stages. , In Wellington the men wore their work- _ ing clothes and boots, and all tliey had i to do was to fix on tlieir helmets. -He r saw a very fine telescopic ladder at the i head station in Melbourne, worked on ? the olcctro-gas principle, and there also a they favoured a light pneumatic-tyred ■ fire engine, carrying six men and 500 ® or 600 feet of hose, for work in the out-' 3 stations. It would be, he thought, the , ideal oar for our suburban, stations, 5 when the time came to "motorise" . them, as they had plenty of speed and ; were capital hill-climbers. As in most t places, the direct fire-alarm connection 1 between large buildings and the station ■ was being adopted, but in some casos c the system adopted was antiquated. -He was rather surprised to see gas used j for exit lights in the theatres in Sydt ney instead of tho ca6tor-oil floats used - here. The first action in fire suppres- . 6ion_ should be t-o account for all ox-. > plosives and always to cut off the pas. > To do that in a crowded building like a theatre would at once mean a panic, 1 as people in the mass were always fairly amenable to Teason so long as they could seo clearly what was happening. Sir. Tait had no opportunity of seeing either the Sydney or Melbourne brigade - aft work on a fire. Owing to the number of enlistments from the brigade for military service, and the consequent drain on the trained staffs, the Vic- • torian Fire Board would only guarantee ' the billots of 20 men, whilst the New South Wales Board limited the number J to 25. i