THE WRONG SIREN

Hawke's Bay Herald-Tribune, Issue 158, 22 July 1937, Page 4

THE WRONG SIREN

Brigadesmen Confused By Traffic Officer # RUSH TO THE STATION On several oceasions recently the . sound of Birens used by trafl&c inspectors has hampered the work of the Hastings Fire Brigade and resulted in firemen rushing to the station when there was no need for them to do so.. A complaint to this effect was made by ■ Superintendent It. Henderson at the quarterly meeting of the Hastings Fire Board, held in the fire station yesterday afternoon. ' "I want to make a protest abopt the sirens traffic inspectors are using," began Superintendent Henderson* "They have caused the brigade a lot of trouble, and I eonsider that it ie very wrong to use them in a place such as Hastings, where the brigade is voluntary." He quoted instances whare volunteer members of the brigade had heard these sirens and had left their work and rushed to the fire station, believing that the sound was coming froin there. Members"" of the board expressed astonishment that such sirens should be permitted to be used. "I always thought that under the motor regulations fire engines were the only vehicles that might use a siren," remarked one member, but, others pointed out that the law had now been amended to include traffic inspectors. "It's a rotten thing, anyway to have the volunteers called out by'this means," siad Mr. W. G. Hay. It was decided to protest to the Fire Brigiades Association and to send a copy of the protest to the Chief Inspeofcor of Fire Brigades, Mr. Girling Butcher.