UP-TO-DATE FIRE STATION

Hawke's Bay Herald-Tribune, Issue 202, 11 September 1937, Page 14

UP-TO-DATE FIRE STATION

'New London Headquarters t

Klng George opened London 's new £r© brigade headquarters on the Albert Embankment recently. The two steel constructed blocks, built at a cost of some £300,000, ■tand on a site specially chosen for its strategic position, giving easy.access to two bridges and a number of main roads. The London Pire Brlgade claims that "the headquarters will be one of the iinest fire stations in the world. Latest developments in modern technique are fully represented, the result of research journeys to foreign capitals by special fire brigade officers. In the basemont of the main block is a laundry, a mechanicalJy stoked series of boilers and a dcmonstration room for sprinkler systems. On the ground floor is the appliance room, having seven "runouts.*' The fire* fighting apparatus will always stand xeady with engines kept warm by special apparatus. To ease oiling and repair operations a new type of lifting ram has been included in the equipment. Other features of this 10-story building include a large gymnasium for the fire-fighters, a modern canteen, a workshop, a breathing-apparatus room, storerooms and a wateh room in which an officer is always on duty. Next to .this is the office of the General Post Offico xepresentative whose duty it will bo,

t'o order immediate repairs to telephone lines and alarms and see that the telephone system of the brigade is always working with maximum efficiency. The second blocyk houses additional apparatus and cars, as well as the residential quarters of the firemen. In addition there is in this block a "Fire Brigade College," with lecture rooms and a training school. From the public's point of view, perhaps the most interesting improvement is in facilities for watching regular weekly demonstrations of efficiency by the headquarters staff. A feature of the London Fire Brigadcs activities has for a long time been the Wcdnesday "freo shows. " The public is weicome, but at the old headquarters there is only room for 500 spectators. The new headquarters have been so designed that the ' central arena has galleries accommodating 1,000 spectators under cover. Here, wbile the Fire Brigade Band plays stirring tunes, London 'a firemen will show the speed with which they can go about their rescue work. The headquarters, situated in Southwark Bridge Boad, which have served the Brigade for some 60 years, will continue to serve, but in futuro only "in tho lesser capacity of a branch station.