FIRE WASTE

Hokitika Guardian, 8 June 1928, Page 1

FIRE WASTE

NEW ZEALAND’S BAD RECORD. £1,250,000 A YEAR LOST. WELLINGTON, June 6. The enormous waste of property caused by firo in New Zealand—a waste that in large part is said to be easily preventable—was emphasised by Captain T. T. Hugo, Inspector of Fire Brigades, in an address to the Wellington Chamber of Commerce. Captain Jingo stated that the excessive ratio of loss in Now Zealand was mostly due to the abnormal number of outbreaks of lire. He quoted the ratio of fires to papulation in such cities as Manchester, Singapore, Kingston. Shanghai, and Glasgow, the average working out at about one fire to 1336 persons) . us against one to every 429 persons in New Zealand. In the IS constituted districts in New Zealand having a eoni'bined population of 542,0;K) persons, in twelve mouths there occurred 1291 property fires, whereas Glasgow, with a population. of 1,052.000 for the same period had only (fit; property fires. This meant that Glasgow, with twice the population, had only a little over half the number of lire.s.

A most regrettable feature in the matter, lie continued, was that the great majority of the outbreaks in New Zealand were directly due t-:> carelessness. Out of the 1291 fires I hat had occurred in the *lB fire districts, 138 had been due to enrelex.sne.ss with matches, 91 to sparks from washing coppers and domestic fireplaces, 53 to pipes and cigarette butts, *l. to. overheating beeswax, fat and hat ashes, 14 to smoking er striking matches, or using naked lights in proximity to benzine. 31 to gas rings and clothes airing l •!': • * the lire: | ’>[) to electric lans, a total of *2l. Not quite in the xa.ni” category, but still due to carelessness lo a varying de ree. even up to a criminal point, were tbo 15*1 fires report'd as caused by elee'rioily and defective hearths and chimneys. But there still remained unaccounted for, the 409 fires which had destroyed all traces of their origin, and had been returned as “cause unknown.” As to. t.he remedy for this abnormal number of outbreaks, proceeded Captain Hugo, quite a number of suggestions bad npiK’arc'd in the Press from time to time, most I v advocating legislation in the way of holding Coroners’ inquests into every fire, amended building by-laws, stricter supervision over the installation of electric power for its various uses, and so* on. “N i

legislation on such lines would have .some good results,” he declared, “hut it will not strike at the root of the evil. It will not* alter habits of carelessness ingrained in our present u*o population, and I would reiterate my opinion that tho most effective remedy for this widely spread carelessness is the compulsory teaching of fire prevention methods in our schools.”

Captain Hugo said ho,did not place much faith in tho mghtwntchman system. Tlic real remedy was at hand in any one of the several efficient autodetector systems now on the market, or in the, still more effective combination of auto-detector sprinkler system. He mentioned that three fires which had occurred during the last few

months at a large furniture factory in Auckland, in woollen mills at Ivaiapoi, and in a fancy goods and hardware store of Christchurch, had resulted in an aggregate loss of £117,000. Had an auto-detector'been installed in these three places, the average loss would have been only 21 ]>er cent, but even if it had amounted to 10 per cent, there still would have been a saving pi over £105,000. “In placing before you the conditions as I see them regarding the excessive waste by fire: in New Zealand.’ concluded Captain Hugo “every care lias been taken to avoid exaggeration, and surely the entire disappearance ot property gone sky-high in smoke to the amount of over li millions of Kidney per year, and at such a time of stress as the present, calls for prompt action from all persons who are endowed with any sense of civic, responsiblitv. as also from the Press of the country, with its tremendous influence in nnv matter pertaining to the welfare of the community.”