Levin Fire Brigade.

Levin Daily Chronicle, 19 March 1918, Page 3

Levin Fire Brigade.

At last night's meeting of ..'the I Borough Council the Town Clerk [ reported having' informed the Fire Brigade of the Council's decision authorising the purchase of new gear, and a letter was received from the Fire Brigade stating it had been ordered. _ The Mayor suggested endeavouring to sell the second hand hose to towns which had not the pressure Levin had. The captain of the Fire Brigade, Mr McTaggart, then waited on the Council and in answer to questions ..said none of the hose that would be discarded could be sold. He would not like to recommend it to anyone. They had not such a wonderful pressure in Levin as they had had competitions at Hastings with a-pressure I of 165ibs. Cr Matheson: How do you account for the hose bursting .at the recent fire, then. Capt. McTaggart: I can't say as i was not there. He added that some of the hose was 8 or y years old and its lite ordinarily was 3 or 4 years. He attributed ; its lasting so long to being turned regularly and looked after. The best hose would burst at times through a kink or twist. It had been stated that the Brigade never practiced, in the. streets, but some years ago a previous picture proprietor objected to- the pracr tice in the streets because it uced the pressure but the Brigade decided it would practice where it thought fit. Cr Mathson said his point was that the most valuable stocks and buildings were in Oxford street and the Brigade should make itself familiar with the method of attacking fires, there. Capt. McTaggart said lately owing to the high cost of hose they had been practicing on the grass so as not to damage the hose on the roads. The chief thing for efficiency at fires was the coupling and they were training in this on the reserve. They were not going to live on the reserve though. ' The Brigade had practiced night after night in the main street with three and four leads of hose out, and the men were acquainted with the positionof the plugs and method of fighting fires there. Cr Matheson said he accepted Capt. McTaggart's statement that they practiced in the main street but he had never seen them there. Cr Bryson said he was about a good deal and he had never seen the Brigade practicing much in Oxford street. Capt. McTaggart then mentioned a statement that he had been paid lis a day to clean the fire plugs, and said this had only been done one year. The following year he was told it was not necessary. 'He also wished to know what the Council s idea was in regard to the Brigade suggested at the previous meeting! 7 He said there were 200 plugs which would tak© ■ £i long time to go round.

The Mayor said the Council merely wished to have the Bra" gade's views on the subject. The firemen were paid something for practicing. "Would it not be possible to go round the plugs in six mtfnths and so learn where they were situated and see that they were in good order. Capt. McTaggart suggested paying the men to clean the fireplugs and then tarring round them, and keeping the indicators in good order. - . In reply to further questions he admitted that the plug in the recreation ground w|as useless for practice. It should be carried round to the main again and not left a dead-end. In the course of further questioning he said the gear at Weraroa was being damaged by the state of the shed, the doors of which were falling off. The Mayor criticised the mejthod of getting information regarding the Brigade. It should not be necessary to have to cross-ex amine the Captain of the Brigade to discover these matter. There should be some system of reporting to the Council. It could not be denied that the Brigade had received every consideration, from this Council and no reasonable r«quest had been refused. Jle suggested to Captain McTaggart that he put in a written report on his proposals for ringing tne bell and in regard to cleaning the P Capt. McTaggart agreed to do this but contended that his recomendations in regard to lighting the station and ringing the bell had been ignored previously. After Capt. McTaggart had withdrawn Cr Ryder asked where the Council's representatives on the Fire Brigade were that tne Council fiid not know of these matters. ~ Cr Mackenzie said the way tne Council had dealt with the Fire Brigade matter was no credit to it. He believed town had reached a size when it should have a permanent fireman, who could look after the gear and plugs. Cr Matheson also expressed tne strong opinion that the Council would have to go further into the - matter than it had done. - Further discussion was then adjourned until the written *^ c ~ ommendations are before the Council.