NO WATER FOR FIRES

Sun (Auckland), Volume 1, Issue 106, 26 July 1927, Page 8

NO WATER FOR FIRES

ONCE again the appalling inadequacy of the provisions made for water with which to combat fire has been exposed. This has been a long-standing scandal in Auckland, and a real danger well-known to the authorities, who have not taken measures to remove a terrible menace to life and property. Time and again the water pressure has proved hopelessly inadequate to cope with fires both in the city and suburbs; and on more than one occasion there has been grave risk to life, and a general conflagration has only been averted by the superhuman efforts of desperately-resourceful firemen who have fought under a most terrible handicap. Press and public, fire underwriters and fire-fighters, have demanded the protection of a better water supply; but the city remains in many parts almost entirely at the mercy of chance. If anything was wanting to emphasise the terrible fire risk of this city, last night’s blaze at Parnell, when the Salvation Army’s Home for Women was utterly destroyed, should make up the deficiency. The work of the firemen, as far as that building was concerned, was hopeless from the beginning, and it was only by superhuman endeavour that they saved adjacent houses from destruction. The water-pressure was such that merely a pathetic trickle came from the hoses, to he deflected hv the wind. There were 25 women in that home. Had they been awakened less early and had the fire barred egress, what hope would there have been of saving them, without water to control the flames? Did it never occur to the authorities to ask themselves what were the px-obabilities if this building caught fire, when it was known positively that a sufficient supply of water for firefighting was not obtainable in the neighbourhood? Bxxt for the heroic work of the firemen, a kindly wind, which blew froxxx a favourable direction, and a large element of luck, there might last night have been a conflagration which would have had infinitely more serious consequences so far as Parnell is concerned. What would the authorities have had to say in extenuation to-day?

The Mayor of Auckland says the lack of water-pressure was due to the small mains which were part of the system taken over from the Parnell Borough when Parnell came into the City. The answer to that is that the City Council knew the situation years ago, and that the danger of it should have been appreciated.