LEVIN FIRE BRIGADE.

Levin Daily Chronicle, 7 March 1918, Page 3

LEVIN FIRE BRIGADE.

CAUSES OF ItEOExNT FAILCUE. BELL OCT OF OIIDEIt, BAD SYSTEM, LEAK* HOSE. The recent lire was the subject of a long discussion at last nigut s meeting of the iiorough Council and important cnanges , and improvements in regard to tne 1' ire Brigade were decided upon. . Cr Parker, one of the Council's representatives on the Fire Brigade, reported that he had attended a meeting of the Brigade and feeling at the start was rather intense but at tne finish unanimous conclusions were arrived at. The meeting was really an enquiry into the causes of the failure to save the second house from destruction. It was admitted that this house should never have been burnt. The first cause of this was the faulty ringing of the firebell, which stopped soon after it began, with the result that certain members of the Brigade did not hear the alarm. The Brigade had a system that the firemen went to the fire_ or the station, whichever was nearest to their residences.

It so happened that on this occasion the firemen in the East and Northern parts of the town cud not hear the bell, and so no one attended at the station. The fireman who lifted the plug* at the fire ran up to the station subse quently and brought the reel to tlie fire. The firebell was still in the same unsatisfactory condition. The Brigade suggested that the remedy was to take the bell out of the hands of the Borough Council and place it under the control of the lire Lngat e, which would then be responsible for it. The first use of the bell was to summon the Brigade ami the second to alarm the residents and if the Brigade had control of it they would regard it as a, matter of honour to have the bell 111 a state of efficiency. At. present the bell was under the control o± tlie Borough overseer. The Brigad_ suggested an improveu method oi ringing the bell. . The second reason for the failure was the breaking of a hydrant and the bursting of a said Cr Parker. 'It was a double hydrant. Only three men tuined up and they could not run out a second hose and leave it. lead was run out but it buist. I then became nece s . t0 entirebsliut down the at the critical stage of tltThre >he remedy for this was to obtain a 1 water was running on one sid could be cut oJf if desired on the ! other. - The Coiurcii was » was about four years old. | in fair order though it leaked bidly ■«,! "'hil, it thp pressure m m" sl towns would not stand the Levin pres-

BUl 2le third cause ox failure was ( ~p tire i)LUU' covers. -Li, cook J--j inmate: to gee the cover ou one oi me plugs was only a small incision on int n tolxt nby and this «j. w ' It was extraordinary ihat tu brigade had not asked for tins. io , be altered in- the last ii\e je. , ihe request was now made tuu ] tlxe 'covers be slotted and Uys ( nrovided to lift the lids with. ii\ ?ost would be about yd per plug<Jr Parker said these requ L ,ts, ( when carried out would place th Brigade on a much better footnio so fer as lire hghting was con cerned. He said that shortly before the recent fire he asked the Brigade whether any equipment was wanted and the reply was -NoApparently they wanted this equipment and did not know 1 • | The Mayor said Cr Parker wa I entitled to their thanks for his very thorough report. At same time it could not be ther said that the Brigade tou l be held entirely blameless lht Council always granted the Bi gade's requests and did not ham per it. in any way. He did no think the Council would lia\e. s objection to giving the Bn D ade control.of the firebelL Hxquestioned" whether the Brigade s syv tem was the best one. It ought to be the duty oi every hreinan to q-o to the station, with the exception of those living near the hie. They must have the hose which would cost about £25, ancl the , double control liydyant, but it mi"-lit be expected that the 811 gade would be sufficiently acquainted with the water pressure in Levin by this' time to know what the hose would stand, lhe Ma vor considered the Brigade should visit the fireplugs periodically to. ensure that they were clear, it was no use .having them slotted if they were to be overgrown with weeds. Altogether he thought the recent experience would v> >~ bably be a lesson to the «»e^ e ; Cr Lancaster agreed that the Brigade should have control oi the bell. The Brigade should also practice at various points 111 tie Borough and try the fm>pluss. It wm aU very well to hold these trials in the' public street but it J was not so much the - ability run out the hose in a minute or half a minute less than someone else that was wanted so much as nil-round efficiency. There should also be three hydrant men so (hat. lhe turning on of lhe waier would be in experienced hands 1 one or even two of these men did not hear the bell. He asked whe flier tlie bursting of the hose, was ■ caused by the water being turned ■ on too suddenly. ' Cr Matheson said lie understood • there was some control in the hy-

.uani nseix wiueii j>revcu«,c-u ui^. t_r j-'aiKcr sunt tnu >Mucr cuu»u not be turned uu luu iimojvij . 11 aU 10 be t-u.ii.en uuweui tii.a.fc there was no Kinii in mu Liose. Ur Urysou said, tiie wulor %>ao playing 011 tlie tire beiore tne burst so it could not nave uecii tiie sudden turning-on oi ike v. Liter which burst, ilie hose. lie suggested using weed killer round tlie plugs. The 'lown Clerk said there had never' been any resolution passed by the (Jouncil putting me bell in tlie charge of tlie Overseer, and it seemed extraordinary to huu tiuu the Fire J3rigade should say tln-y were not in control of the bell. Each year it had been customary ±or the captain of the hire Brigade to go round the plugs and remove the grass for which \*oik he was -paid lis per day. Cr Aitken said Cr Parker had given a concise and clear reporl. Still it seemed to him that there mismanagement somewhere, though they could not expect the Brigade to acknowledge it. Cr Aitken considered a great step towards efficiency would be to have a single fireman resident on the station premises. It was far too infrequent to clear the fireplugs once a year. Cr Mackenzie said the rin o i n » of the bell was very unsatisfactory and after the fire he the water turnedo n full and iu ning to waste. iieloru Handing tlie bell over to the Bngadc ought to make a good job of t ringing apparatus and he reiuinded the Council that all the repoi s they had received from other boroughs agreed that v> atei pow <_i was unsatisfactory. r lb« iiad not shown a great deaf "! wisdom in regard to the bell n »- ing system. He intended to suggest a resident fireman but, had .been forestalled by Cr A:it v . Such a man could look after the fire plugs and find enough work to keep himself employed. | Mackenzie also, suggest ecl that ! spare hydrants and hose be lo tan. so that it would be available when required. . v Cr Matheson urged dmdmfc the town into wards with different rings lor each so that the firemen would know where the fiie \ • It was on the strong recommendation of the Brigade that the pie sent method of nnguig the bell w,as adopted by the Council, a t he believed a fireman erected itHe criticised the methods of practice and said the Brigade should practice in different parts of the town so that it would know where the (plugs were in case of hie. The Brigade never practiced in the main street for instance, ine water, he understood, was only used at half pressure at practice. The fire plugs should be cleared every three months at least. Cr Lancaster said the Council must take all the responsibility for the firebell. _ , . The Mayor Suggested that at certain fixed periods tlie bell be tested by being rung." Cr l'arker said it was the con tact of metal with metal that rusted the plugs. He had asked the Brigade to fill three vacancies in their ranks, two of which vteie caused by the absence of firemen, at the front; also to consider the system of attending ;lt ros - Cr Lancaster said he was informed that one cause of the failure was the blowing out of the dead end in tlie recreation groUU( I. . i The Mayor said that was most important, and the; Council should consider whether the deadend ought to be removed. Cr Matheson said it was put in for practice and was in the worst possible place for practice. The Mayor proposed that the Brigade be recommended to inspect and clear all the fireplugs at least once a year, this serving to make them conversant witli the location of the plugs. Cr Parker considered this liaid ly fair to the Brigade which was a volunteer body and not paid. The Mayor's proposal was acceded to on his pointing out that the matter of remuneration could discussed when the Brigade s views on the proposal were ascer-

tained. 1 . Cr Parker's recommendations were then adopted.