HOKITIKA FIRE BOARD

Hokitika Guardian, 25 March 1926, Page 1

HOKITIKA FIRE BOARD

WEDNESDAY, MARCH 24th. The Board met at 2.30 p.m. Present: —Hon H. L. Alichel (Chairman), Messrs J. J. Breeze, H. M. Coulson, A. R. Elcoek, J. F. Grierson and R. P. Watkins. The minutes were confirmed and outward correspondence approved. INWARD CORRESPONDENCE. From Department of Internal Affair.' in reference to the supply of hose.— Received. From Westport Fire Board enquiring if the Board supplied rubber gloves to firemen and other particulars.—Received ; replied to. From Deputy-Superintendent Williams notifying that there was some fault with his alarm connection and lie had not hoard the ring on Sunday morning.—Received. The Secretary stated it was receiving attention. The Secretary reported receipts .0123 13s 7d, payments £137 3s Id, credit balance C 75 B*.~ Received. The Secretary reported that the toll talc clock records for the past period show no discrepancies.—Received ns highly sat isfactory. '.SUPERINTEND KXT' S R K P<lllT. Gentlemen.—l have the honor to report that since your last meeting your Brigade received, and answered three lire calls. Two of these, however, had been extinguished hv the occupants, and our services wore not requited. The last call, on Sunday morning proved to lie of a very serious nature, indeed, and resulted in the almost total destruction of liaty’s Garage in Weld Street, and ton motor-cars and one lorry were almost completely lost, also one lorry partly hurnt. The actual

amount of loss I have not been able t„ ascertain, hut 1 think it will ho in the neighbourhood of .03,000. A regrettable feature of this flic was the lack of water pressure in the early stage of the outbreak. Had the full pressure been available at this time, we would have had no difficulty in confining the lire to the office where it apparently originated. 1 have great pleasure in submitting the names of the following gentlemen, who have cheerfully agreed to enrol in the Fire Police—-T. C oulsou. Robert l.yim, F. Breeze, F. Chosterman and W. Gnylor, and they now await your acceptance of their services. ft is pleasing to report that the team representing vour Brigade gained an honourable place in the Dunedin demonstration, coming seventeenth in a price list of 23. There was a record entry of Brigades competing, over 70, so our team’s performance was very good. AV. BRADDON. Superintendent. Received and adopted, after the following discussion had taken place. DISCUSSION ON REPORT.

ill reply to Mr Grierson. Supt. Braddon stated that the whole of the Brigade, 30 in number, were present at Sunday morning’s fire. The Chairman said apparently two men were in charge of the water supply. Ohcsiernnni was supposed to he connected lull, did not get the fire alarm either. What file Board wanted to know was why did they not get tile alarm and what was the matter with the water supply. Continuing, Mr Michel said that he was absolutely opposed to the turning off of the water at. night. The F.ningeer fMr Leslie Reynolds) who was responsible for iho laying-out of the water supply, was absolutely against rlir turning off of the water, stating it was very dangerous to do so. owing to the liability of forming air cushions, and there was a real danger of the whole system collapsing by the sudden turning on of the water.

Mr Coulson said the Secretary of the Board (Mr Andrewes! who was also Town Clerk could explain the difficulty of the Council in the past to keep the reservoir full in case of an emergency. The Council, owing to tho condition of (lie pipe lino, to which he did not need now to refer, found it. necessary so as to conserve the water, to turn it down at one time or another. There are two valves used for the purpose in Hampden Street, one at the intersection with Sale Street and the other at Revel i Street. Mr Chester man lives near the Sale Street one and Mr Gaylor near the Revell Street one. Tt appears that the alarm was not heard iiv all concerned, and probnly this was the main cause of the trouble.

In answer to a question -Mr Braddon said the alarm he received was a fairlv short one.

Afr Androwcs (Town Clerk) replying to Air Cnulsou’s request, stated the condition of the water supply had been worrying the Council for a considerable time past, and left the Council with two alternatives, the cutting of tlio supply down in the day and left at night, with the reservoir going down, or the turning of the water down at night and so enabling the reservoir to he kept fairly full. On the night of the fire there was 91 foot of water in the reservoir and it dropped I feet as a result of tlio fire. The next night hy instructions the water was kept full on, and hy the morning the water in the reservoir had dropped bv If feet. The was of the opinion that it was hotter for the Brigade to have to wait even up to ten minutes at the time of the alarm, and have a full reservoir, than to have the water turned on full and not have two feet of water in the reservoir if an outbreak did occur and then not have sufficient water to put out a fire. On Sunday morning there was a set of unfortunate circumstances that may not occur again. Probably the Council would agree to connect the two men Afr Gnylor (turncock during the day) and Afr Chesterman, who is already connected with" the alarm system (turncock during the night). Tn any event the Borough Council was fully a ware of the position and were doing their utmost to safeguard the town. The Chairman (Air Afichel) pointed out the grave danger of bursting up the whole system hy the rapid turning on of the water. He would like to hear what Afr Braddon had to say as to waiting for the water to ho turned on at the whim of some person or another. Tt was a monstrous proposal and he was surprised at it being mentioned especially as there was no shortage of water.

Air Coulson said there was no shortage of water thanks to the Borough Council. He differed with the Chairman and thought the Council’s twenty years of experience with the water supply had taught them more than Afr Leslie Reynold's statement as to what can and what cannot he done. He thought the Council had done its utmost and they were not responsible. AH Breeze wanted to know wlmt was the trouble in keeping the reservoir full. TTe could not see why the water should not he turned on full at night. Supt. Braddon said he quite appreciated the difficulties of the Borough Council and there was a large amount of truth in what Air Andrewes had ! said. He recognised that it would he

better to wait a few minutes than to have no water at all. It had been pointed out some months ago that it was necessary to conserve the water supply. It seemed to him that the Council had a hard row to hoe. All the sarno it was hard for the Brigade to work under these difficult conditions. In answer to Air Alichel’s question, he did not think as long as the water was turned on gently that there was mueli danger of the pipe line bursting. There were two circumstances against them on Sunday morning, the main one being that the alarm by means of the telephone connection was not satisfactory, and the other the necessity of cutting down tile pressure of water. The whole trouble was that there was not sufficient water coming into the reservoir to enable the full pressure to be kept on at all hours. Air Grierson said lie gathered thal the limitation had extended over 13 months. It seemed to him thal there must be extensive leaks between the reservoir and the town, or how could they account for a fall in the reservoir

of IS inches in a night, when practically no water would lie used. He thought ii was a matter for enquiry whether the water supply was defective between the reservoir and the Lake or the reservoir and the town. Air Alichel said he still failed to understand why the turncock (Air Gnylor) was not connected up with the alarm system. Mr Andrewes added that Air Gaylor was in charge of the water supply during the clay and Mr Chesterman takes the fire alarm at night. It was not considered necessary to have the two connected with the alarm. Afr Alichel said tile point they had to consider was that £3OOO damage had been done in an hour and the Town Clerk endeavours to counsel a continuance of this system, which lias proved a. failure. As a, big ratepayer he felt strongly on the matter. The sooner the ratepayers grapple with this water supply iron hie the bet ter it, will he for all concerned. He entirely disagreed with the present system or lack of system, and considered there was an urgent necessity for alteration. Air Coulson took exception to the Chairman’s remarks in reference to a system or lack of system. The system was quite all right, hut owing to an unfortunate set of circumstances, in connection with the hearing of the alarm there had been some delay. Ho pointed out that Air Chesterman was turncock at night and Air Gaylor for the day.

Mr Andrewes stated both nten were directed to attend any fire alarm, so that there wore always two strings to their how. Air Alichel said it was a fact however that the Superintendent had to send a motor car to get Iho water turned on. Air Andrewes stated that when the motor ear got to the valve, Air Gaylor was then turning on the water. Air Grierson asked whether it would not he advisable under the circumstances for the steam engine to be lit on any alarm being given even if it were not moved away from the station. Air Braddon stated on the present occasion there was about an eight minute delay, while it would take nearly 20 minutes to got the steam engine at work, and then it could only work at some half dozen stand pipes.

Air Alichel said the ratepayers look to the Board and Council to prevent a repetition of Sunday morning’s disaster.

Mr Coulson again look exception to the Chairman blaming the Borough Council for any delay. The blame lay on those who did not hear the ring, though tliov could not he blamed for not hearing it. He thought everything was all right. But for the fact that the men did not hear the ring there would have been no delay. It was quite wrong to blame the Council. The system was all right, ff the rings had come out there would have been no delay.

Air Breeze differed. There was a mistake and a most damnable mistake on Saturday night. Who are the responsible parties for the supply of water for the Fire Brigade? The Brigade was a most, efficient body. Tt was the duty of the Board to write to the Borough Council and find out. what is tho^matter and where the fault is.

Mr Alichel said the position was qi serious one and affected everyone in (he town. Already some insurance companies have given instructions In out. down insurances. Mr Grierson moved that the Board recommend to the Borough Council (lint those responsible for the turning cm of the water he oimnecfed with the telephone call. This was seconded by Alt- Breeze.

'Mr Audrowos said the '.valor was turned down day and night to about noibs pressure. When it was turned on full on Monday night lh<> reservoir losi. ifoot. ]\lr Flench saiil the weak '-pot is that the telephone eonneetion is not sullioient. Tf they nut on more eonneetions it would mako the call the weaker. Mr Michel said if the water supply was as weak as was stated then the Fire Board should urge the Borough Conned to strengthen the water supply. The, fire loss this wear has already been between £B.OOO and £IO.OOO. He asked were they satisfied with the position. Air Grierson thought the whole trouble of the water supply was that, there must he a substantial leakage between the reservoir and the town. Al> Braddon reiterated that from the Fire Brigade’s point of view the weak point was that there was not sufficient water coming in to keep the reservoir full, when the town supply was turned on full. AW Coulson thought they should thoroughly overhaul the preliminary alarm system and that would overcome the danger. TTc reiterated that, it uas not the Council's fault. Air Watkins said the crux of the position was that it seemed the turncock was the master of the situation. Of what use was the Fire Brigade if there were no water. He would also refer them to the fact of the telephone, and the weakness of the system, winch appeared not to ho strong enough to vivo the ring clearly. Tt was remarkable that the most important connection, that of the turncock (Mr Chcsterman) was the furthest away It womd bo better to see even if it entailed further expense that this man was made more surely available. He pathised with the Superintendent whose .rood work was spoilt for want of vatci. If the turncock or whoever was responsible to turn on the water were connected it would obviate the trouble. He pointed out the Fire Board were not responsible for turning on the water hut the Borough Council were. Air Andrewes stated Hr Burns (chief clerk at the Post Office) proposed to test the whole telephone alarm svstem and also to emlavour to have nut in a. 1000 ohms battery instead of the present 500 one to enable more power for the ring to he utilised. P The motion by Air Grierson was then agreed to. , . . . The Secretary was authorised to confer with the Postmaster with a view to expediting the testing of the alarm and making any possible improvements. Air Coulson said the Fire Board paxs fur the night telephone connection and therefore was responsible for the delay. Air Grierson said this was not correct. The Board simply provided the eonneetion to enable the Council’s employees to carry out their duty more promptly. accounts. Accounts amounting to ~113 were passed for payment. The Chairman congratulated • pe intondent Braddon on the excellent sWng of the Brigade’s team at the Dunedin demonstration. Tho Board then rose at 3.50 p.m.