A MECHANICAL FIRE ESCAPE

Dominion, Volume 12, Issue 237, 1 July 1919, Page 8

A MECHANICAL FIRE ESCAPE

TO-COST OVER £2000. .A fire escapo in the sense'used by professional fire brigadesmcn does not neeeswrily mean what it says. Ordinarily one might imagine that a mechanical fire . escape, was some clever contrivance for rescuing people from the dangers of fire .: in buildings where the ordnary means of egress'are out off. That is not altogether -the' Case from a fireman's point of view. ■-An escape with him is neither more nor less' thait a ladder, and the mechanical •turntable escape is simply a long ladder. That it is a laddor of some quality may be judged from. the fact, that the one tho City Council has just sane"tioned the-purchase of 'by the fire brigade superintendent (Mr. H. Tait) is likely to cost the city something in tho neighboiirhood of ,£2OOO. ■ 'At present tho tallest ladder in the 'Municipal Firo Brigade's plant is 05 feet in -length, but, as the superintendent Joints; out, some of the buildings jn Wellington are 100 ft. in height, and extreme difficulty would he experienced, were fires, to break out in the upper stories of 6Uoh buildings owing to the practical impossibility of working them efficiently frbm the open through being out of reach. •'-The new mechanical turntablo fire escape consists of a powerful motor-en-gine,, carrying a ladder that can be mechanically, extended 85 feet in the air, ■or on a level with the tc!p floor windows 'of the tallest building in Wellington. Mr. Tait says that 85ft. is tho greatest' height that can be attained in ladder constmctionoonsistent with safe working. ■Jn explanation,-it should be mode clear that fires are, as often as not, worked from the top of these ladders, as they ' stand out ciear of the burning building, .the.,top of the-ladder being suspended in mid-air, counter-iyeighted, as it were, by the "null" of tho engine itself. From / 1 'such positions men holding the nozzles of hoses a.ro often able to dominate an outbreak of fire by noting exaotly where fb direct the stream of wuter. Naturally, .---where peoplo are cut off from the ground in burning buildings the ladders are used i effect rescues, but in such cases they havo to bo used with circumspection, as ithe ladders era made cf tough wood (trussed, with steel), and aro liable in great heat to burn. In America an 85ft. , r laddor would, of course, bo of littie valuo !' ;in. fires' where the buildings are from I 20 to 40 stories in' height, and to effect j rescues'in such buildings, there are spei cially-trained hook and ladder men, who, | with tho aid of small ladders having i hooks at the end of both uprights, are i able tq climb from story to story to ji locate the seat of the firo or effect a J : • rescue. It is among tho hook and ladder !. men.that the greatest percentage of accidents and deaths occur, the work they do being extremely dangerous. The mechanical fire cscape which is being procured for Wellington will be insulated, so that the risk from accident through electricity will be made less likely than otherwise. In England, wlioro German-mado fire cscapes were largely in use lieforo the war, the motors and the escape were impelled either by storage batteries (electric) or "C.0.2" (com- ' pressed gas). In England such elements are perhaps as good as any other, but the proposition is entirely different in New Zealand, becausc at Homo they can always have repairs effected promptly which may not. bo so readily done here. Superintendent Tait is specifying for r ■ petrol-ekciiic engine, which is safe and , ""reliable.'