ELECTRIC CABLES NOT THE CAUSE OF THE FIRE

Grey River Argus, 3 June 1948, Page 3

ELECTRIC CABLES NOT THE CAUSE OF THE FIRE

City Council Case at Ballantyne’s Inquiry

CHRISTCHURCH, June 2. At the fire inquiry, the engineer to the Christchurch City Council’s Electricity Department, John Forsyth, said in evidence that nothing justified the conclusion that electricity in any way contributed to the cause of the tire at Ballantyne’s. Answering a question by Mr T. A. Gresson (for Ballantyne’s) he said that when an inspection was made in 1937, by Mr R. D. Adams, the report card showe'd “O.K.'" and Mr Adam’s signature. He considered that this indicated that the electrical installation in the firm was satisfactory, but added that the inspector might have had more information in his notebook.' Mr W. R. Lascelles (for the City Council) said that Mr Adams would be called as the next witness, v Mr Forsyth said Ballantyne’s alternating current installation was the usual type for such premises. Alterations and extensions were inspected as completed, and the whole installation was re-inspected in April, 1934, and in September, 1940. On the afternoon or the fire, the senior inspector of the Municipal Electricity Department was instructed to keep in close touch with the situation, and to determine, ■-; soon as possible, whether the fire originated from electrical causes. When cross-examined by Mr E. S. Bowie (counsel for Thompson and Dorreen, electrical engineers) Mr Forsyth said that the report of Inspector Gee, in 1940, comprised three typed quarto sheets on matters requiring attention. There was nothing in the report to suggest that the cable was not preperly earthed. To further questions by Mr Bowie, Mr Forsyth said that, in his opinion, the defective joints in the cable had nothing to do with the fire. It seemed probable that the joints were made after Thompson and Dorreen had made the installation. Mr Forsyth stated: “On the Friday morning after the fire it was learned that Woolf and Salvesen, on instructions of the Fire Underwriters’ Association, were removing the service mains cable and its attached equipment. A protest was immediately made. It was decided at a subsequent conference that the investigation be handed to the State Hydro-Electric Department. The roughness inside the bell-mouth taking the power conductors into Ballantyne’s was contrary to the regulations, and should have been noticed by a careful inspector. It is hard to understand how a wireman could make the joints discovered in the service mains, because he would know that such work was contrary to the regulations, and that if found out, he would almost certainly lose his licence”.

Mr Forsyth outlined ah arrangement between the department and t.he Fire Board for the department to be notified of fires. No record could be traced of any call concerning the fire at Ballantyne’s, so the fire brigade appeared to have taken no action regarding the supply of electricity at the scene of the fire. Learning of the fire, witness gave orders for the area to be disconnected. The cross-examination of Mr Forsyth was not finished when the Commission adjourned until to-morrow.