EXTINCTION OF FIRES.

Patea Mail, Volume VIII, Issue 1040, 28 May 1883, Page 2

EXTINCTION OF FIRES.

Some very interesting experiments for extinguishing fires took place recently near Blackfriars Bridge, upon the Thames Embankment, The engine employed was the Pneumatic Fire Extinguisher, manufactured by Messrs Spons and Co., of High Holborn, and the invaluable qualities and immense power of these machines were upon this occasion fully established. A pond of blazing tar, 10ft by sft, was put out in from five to seven seconds, with the wind, and once againt the wind. The second trial consisted of five tar barrels and a pile of wood stacked so as to produce complete combustion. The wood was also saturated with inflammables, and when in full' blaze was extinguished in one minute. The third experiment was an enclosed shed, covered with tar and paraffin. This was allowed twice to get to an immense heat and blaze, so much so that the audience were compelled to remove . a distance from it. The fire was twice extinguished in one and a half minutes. The fourth and last experiment (conducted by Mr Spons personally) was a portion of a wooden house, containing furniture and carpets steeped in paraffin and tar, which was set fire to, and when in full blaze was subdued. in less than one minute with an engine worked with a pressure of 200lbs to the square inch. This portion of a house was again relighted after fresh inflammables had been thrown over it in all directions, vfhen it was thoroughly extinguished in less than two minutes.