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Otago Witness, Issue 4031, 16 June 1931, Page 75

Mexico City has a very fine and modern fire department—only one fire station for a city of 1,000,000 inhabitants. And th 3 fire department’s task is perhaps the easiest of any in a city of this size. Not more than 20 serious blazes are on record in a quarter of a century. The great majority of the buildings in Mexico are massive stone structures. If a fire does start in them it buihis out the furnishings and fixtures, and that is all. No gas is used in Mexico City, nor are the houses heated—two principal reasons why the neatly-uniformed firemen spend much time drilling in their barracks, for they live like soldiers and are organised much like a regiment. To keep the firemen from becoming rusty the fire department’ is often on the streets seemingly dashing to a fire somewhere, as traffic halts to give them passage. In .consequence tourists, hearing fire sirens so frequently, are liable to think fires are numerous in Mexico City.