FIRE DANGERS

Hokitika Guardian, 27 October 1933, Page 2

FIRE DANGERS

| i SPONTANEOUS COMBUSTION: • j LINSEED OIL. AND SAWDUST. I . AUCKLAND, October 25. .' , ‘‘Tile fire in; .Wiingate's warehouse on October 19 was:.'caused by the spontaneous combustion, of.,linseed oii• and sawdust,” said Mr W. h, Wilson, j superintendent of the >Auckland Fire Brig.de, at a meeting of the Metropolitan Fire Board. “It is surprising that the danger of mixed linseed oil with a, foreign body is not more generally known,” he added. , After the fire, .said the superintendent, he. made a. thorough inspection of the j ■damaged portion of the. building. .His I suspicions were aroused Iby si.? wooden ! barrels, . full of rubbish,- in the base- j Vaent. They ;, contained. , a mixture of! sawdust and linseed oil, and he was informed by an employee that when linseed oil was spilled on the floor, sawdust, -was strewn about to mop it u(p. It,., ought. to be more widely known . that such a mixture could automatically .ignite jj la if-rom two to G 4 hours, especially if alight pressure was applied. The chairman, Mr J. J. Kingston: ■I thought everyone knew that. 1 He described how a friend of his had once thrown the contents of a tin. of linseed oil on to a lawn after using tthe oil to clean rimu wood. J.n 10 minutes the oil was ablaze. “IGNORANCE AND STUPID’TY.” Mr R. J. Mills: Ignorance and j stupidity 'cause every fire. If we* educate the people properly we would „ not need a fire- brigade.:.' :. Mr Kingston said the- danger off using linseed I 'oil on. cotton waste and J other .substances needed l strongly em-,. phasising. It was: more than probable j

that many fires in country stores were caused through such carelessness. Mr A. G. 'Luna suggested that tb-e hoard might undertake a. campaign -of instruction. The chairman replied that -when the board had tried -to help in instructing the public on previous occasions very littlo notice was taken of it. 'Aft attempt had been made to teaijh the people by moans of films bow to avoid fires, and some time -ago ?0.000 printed notices were issoed in city, giving the telephone numbers of the brigades nnd advising householders employees of 'business firms to acquaint themselves with the situation of the (nearest fire alarms. A) year afterwards 'there was scarcely -one notice to be .found. Nearly all had been lost or destroyed. “Not long ago I was sitting .at a table with 10 other persons,” .-said Mr Kingston, “and I asked each of j them if he knew the telenbone number j rf ncaresv fire station, or the- J position of. the nearest fire alarm. Not] a s : ngle person could answer me coc-fl •roctlv.'f « A The subject was .allowed to drop. i