CITY FIRE-WATCH

Dominion, Volume 35, Issue 258, 30 July 1942, Page 3

CITY FIRE-WATCH

Exemption Chits To Be Reviewed REAL PURPOSE OF SERVICE Exemption chits are nil to be called in about six weeks hence for a review, stated the City Fire Protection Organizer, Mr. V. E. Hampson-Tindalc, during an address in the Town Hall, M cllington, last night. This did not imply, be added, that all' persons holding- exemption chits had been "working a schlinter,” but some were now doing duties less onerous than at the period when they were granted exemption. It was very necessary, too, to secure uniformity in the issue of exemption chits as between Wellington itself and the surrounding areas. “Some people say that fire-watching is so well organized in Wellington today that it can be put to bed till it is needed,” he said. “I say it is not well organized. It is as full of holes as a colander—but we have succeeded in closing some of those holes. Well-organized or ill-organ-ized, the service must be maintained. There is another school of thought which says that the method of fire-watching is all wrong, and that it. should be altered. The present system is not satisfactory, and heavy inroads have been made on the personnel by military ballots, Home Guard call-ups and the ravages of flu. One of the objects of this meeting is to get suggestions which will make the firewatching system more efficient and less of a nuisance value, its development has been undertaken without any precedent to guide us. ...... . “Some 50 per cent, of buddings in the vulnerable area of Wellington are operating a first-class fire-watch service, and some 30 per cent, are operating with various degrees of efficiency, mainly satisfactory. 1 should say of the remaining 20 per cent, that in most cases there has been gross negligence. I am still finding places which have no building organizer, despite 27 publications on this matter. Ten per cent, will have to be made the recipients of somewhat sterner measures. So far I have avoided as far as possible an orgy of prosecutions and inspections, but because no action has yet been taken, it is not to be supposed that I do not know the details of these cases. “I do not see how we could, without jeopardizing the whole structure, depart from the present system of fire-watch-ing,” proceeded Mr. llampson-1 indale. A cause of unrest, in some cases justifiably, had been the method of exemption from tire-watching. Plausible stories had been told to doctors, who had acted in good faith, but after examination of the facts, many medical recommendations for exemptions had been cancelled. It had been suggested that tire-watch-ing was futile in its present form, and that watchers should remain awake. lie was not prepared to take die responsibility of wearing down physically men who worked long hours at arduous occupations, though watchers should remain awake and alert where there was any imminent danger. Fire-watching was, however, futile,,if accepted in the frame of mind which made people apathetic or indifferent to its necessity till they hearu the scream of the first bomb, ihe job of fire-watching was not to protect the property-owner, nor was it to save^ claims on insurance companies. It was to eave every article of national wealth, most of which were badly needed or irreplaceable in wartime. “Fire-watchers are entitled to reasonably comfortable accommodation, and not some of the barns I have inspected,” he said “Manv building owners can be proud of the facilities they have provided, but others can well be ashamed. firewatch organizers have all the authority they require to get _ reasonable accommodation and facilities.” Mr S. 8. Dean, chairman of the City Fire-Watch Committee, said that the actual criticism it had received of the scheme was negligible, though there had been heard rumours and rumblings among people on the street.. Admittedly, fire-watching duties were irksome, but there were a lot of laggards who were doing no watching at all,, and they would have”to be brought into line.