A FALSE ALARM.

Hokitika Guardian, 24 May 1924, Page 1

A FALSE ALARM.

LEADS TO FIREMAN’S DEATH. AUCKLAND, May 22. An inquest concerning the deatli of the deputy-superintendent of the Devonport Erie Brigade, Jules Lo Scelle, was concluded before the Coroner, M r J. M. Boynton, this evening. The verdict was that Le Scelle was accidentally killed in performing his duty ns a fireman. No blame was attachable to anyone but the man who gave the false alarm.

The fatality occurred in the evening of May 5, when the brigade was answering what proved to be a false alarm. An engine with seven firemen on board was proceeding at considerable speed down the incline of Calliope Road when it skidded across the road and collided with a telephone pole, r.,- hcollc was killed outright, and two firemen and a constable were injured. Evidence at the inquest- was that the speed down the incline was between thirty anti forty miles an hour. There tvas no evidence as to who gave tlie alarm.

Mr Poynton added the following rider to his verdict: “I am convinced that the ear was going too List downhill for safety. It would be better to go slower, even although a few pounds worth of property might be risked in doing so. Human life and limb are more important than any property. Rushing to a lire at breakneck speed with a huge vehicle like a fire engine must endanger life, and unless this practice is discontinued there "ill be a terrible calamity. The law should be altered as to fire alarms. Tlie man who falsely gave the alarm which resulted in the death of Le Kcclle. did not. ef course, mean to kill him, hut lie did so as certainly as if had attacked him with a homahawlc. T.et us hope he has a conscience and that he "ill feel remorse for his act. "W lion tin l present penalty for giving a false alarm was enacted, fire-fighting vehicles were horse-drawn, and, at host could not go more than fifteen miles an hour. Now they are of enormous weight and driven by high-powered engines. Tie- penalty of a fine is nothing to a half-drunken larrikin, and does not act as a sufficient deterrent from giving false alarms wilfully at night. The penalty for adults should bo Imprisonment without any option, and whipping for juveniles. The lire brigade conference should take these two matters Into consideration."