FIRES OF 1920
GOOD RECORD OF WELLINGTON MUNICIPAL FIRE BRIGADE LOSS A TRIVIAL ONE Wellington is again fortunate in having sustained little loss hv lire during the year ended to-day. Tho superintendent of the UMI.F.U. (Mr. 11. Tait) furnishes tho following record for the twelve months:— Actual fires 93 Gorsc, grass and refuse fires 42 Chimney fires 22 False alarms • 87 Total calls 219 ' CommentinT 011 the number of false alarms, Mr. Tait paid that very careful inquiry was always made as _ to tho whence of false alarms, and whilst, years ago. there were discovered* people with a mania for giving false alarms, he was not ablo to say the same about those given during 1920. Most of them were due to "nerves"—given by well-meaning people who had seen ft little extra smoke or n red glare, when s"ch indications did not mean work for the brigade. As to tho actual fives scheduled above the following details should interest citizens:— J! Value of buildings -. '201,520 Value of contents ... '115,630 Total 317,130 Loss on buildings 10,-152 Loss on contents 4,581 : Total ! 15,013 Tho figure*, speak volumes for the efficiency and alertness of tho Municipal Brigade. 1 Good ; Work. In addition to the scheduled fires, the services of the brigade wero sought 011 five occasions during tho year on vessels lying alongside the wharves. These wero as follow-':—Karaka foil fire),. June 1G; Raranga (011 lire), July 22; t'oriiitliic (on fire), November 11; Rcmuera (on fire), December *S; Nnra Niven (pumped out), December 2". A remarkable feature of these _ incidents of the waterfront was that in three cases lire was discovered amongst the cargo of fully-loaded Home steamers, fires that, had they broken out a few days later, would have found these vessels in a very dangerous plight in an unfrequented part of the Pacific. Tho saves made 011 each occasion by Superintendent Tait and his men call for the I highest commendation, and the shipping companies concerned have testified accordingly. The actual value of tho three Home steamers referred to and their cargoes amounted to at least The damage by fire, smoke, and water came to less than JjlOflO. 111 the case of the Earajiga and Remuera the fire was discovered , anions the wool and flax | cargoes, and on the Oorinthie it was found that a steam-pipe traversing the ; hold_ had melted and fired part of a. consignment of kauri gum. j i ■ Beware! The only fires,of noto in Wellington were those at Messrs., Cable and Co.'e foundry, the Central Club, St. Andrew's Church, and at 250 tho Terrace. AJr. Tait sounds a note of warning as' to fire prevention, and the need for extra I caution. .He points out that all build-i v^i. lll^ 0 " 8 . 1 is in s ' lorl: su PPly> and very high in price, consequently loss by fire jii the case of' buildings of any kind means a' great deal more money 'to replace than it did a few years ago. Jlq asks all peoplo noii to leave about their premises oily or greasy rags, refuse, packing materials, matches, indeed anything likely to take fire readily from a thrown match or cigarette-end. Most particularly, ho warns the public against making free witlh benzine. Nearly every place nowadays kept benzine, if not for a car or motor-cycle, a small bottle was I kept for cleaning gloves, etc. Willi a naked light about it was always dangerous, and some terrible accidents had occurred as the result! of carelessness in the use of benzine.
Another growing danger 1 was the use of celluloid for so many purposes in everyday life. Celluloid was inado mostly of gelignite and camphor, and as 'many cmldren's dolls and toys, as well as household ware were now made of this highly combustible material, carc should be exercised when naked lights were bem£ used in the same apartment. The superintendent sounded a new note when he referred to the "moral hazard" in fires, where one firo in a small building might mean the destruction of larger buikhngs, with perhaps tho loss'of life, ieople in France and Oermany who allowed premises to take fin! through .negligence could bo sued by sufferers, and thero was no reason why it should not be so bere. If fihrough .negligence one motor-car was allowed lo collide willi another,- damages could be ■ secured afjainst the negligent party. AVhy should not it bo open for any sufferer to sue for damages tho man who allowed his premises to take fire?
During lihe year economy had been observed in plant. Only one 35-h.p. Cadillac car was purchased as a runabout. It carries 800 ft, of hose and two three-gal-lon chemical cylinders. It i s becoming lccogmsed th?t the small chemical cylinders are more efficient than the 500-gallon '•U'nuigeraent. cxeopu when (.lie lire is of some; dimensions, and away from a good water supply. . , Iho Constable Street station had been operating since April last, and Hie best proof of its efficacy was tho substantial reduction in the insurance tariff for lisks in the area covered from the new station.
With a larger city, tho work of the brigade will naturally expand, and already plans are in hand providing for tuture contingencies. It is proposed, for instance, to have a small sub-station somewhere near the I railway tunnel, lo ?r 11. hres Northland, Kelburn,' iiighbury, and Karori; finoilher between ifrouklyn and Mornington, to cover that district; one between Ngaio and Klinndallah, and at Mirnmnr. These would provide, accommodation for two brigadeslueu (who would work with auxiliaries). A New Central Station. lii would be ncccssary in the not. far distant iuture to provide a now Central Station. The present one is over twenty years old; it is sunk slightly on the one side, and its walls are not strong enough to stand another story, whilst thero is an urgent need for more accommodation, «•> the brigade must grow with the city. This would probably mean ('bo demolition bf the present station, and tho eivclion of a new throe-story one that wou'd extend back lo ihe l!rainways power* nouso on Jervois Quay. Mr. Tail. bf. lieves that tile station should' have n gymnasium, a reading-room aud library, and his proposal is (o build—three stories high—over Iho whole of the block indicated round a quadrangle, which would have an arched opening ou to Lower Cuba
Street'-" on the one side, and Jervois Quay on the other. Tho fire-engine house would occupy tho full breadth of the northern frontage.
Permanent link to this item
Hononga pūmau ki tēnei tūemi
https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/newspapers/DOM19201231.2.27
Bibliographic details
Ngā taipitopito pukapuka
Dominion, Volume 14, Issue 82, 31 December 1920, Page 5
Word count
Tapeke kupu
1,078FIRES OF 1920 Dominion, Volume 14, Issue 82, 31 December 1920, Page 5
Using this item
Te whakamahi i tēnei tūemi
Stuff Ltd is the copyright owner for the Dominion. You can reproduce in-copyright material from this newspaper for non-commercial use under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International licence (CC BY-NC-SA 4.0). This newspaper is not available for commercial use without the consent of Stuff Ltd. For advice on reproduction of out-of-copyright material from this newspaper, please refer to the Copyright guide.