Vigilance at Freeman's Bay

Sun (Auckland), Volume II, Issue 329, 14 April 1928, Page 17

Vigilance at Freeman's Bay

Safety-First Methods at the Oil Depots — Fire-Foam, the Creeping Ally — Billy-Goat Has a “Cushy” Job.

(Written for THE SUN by

J. G. McLEAN)

NE the valued servants of a large not on the pay-roll. toiler. The business concern which benefits from the services of this obliging ruminant i 9 the Vacuum Oil Company, and the goat’s congenial task is to assist in keeping the weeds down in the firm’s bulk-oil installation in Freeman’s Bay. This work it carries out with an instinctive sincerity, so that parched and withering weeds can never present a summer fire hazard. “Oil is just as safe as water,” said an oil-man, showing me round a plant Freeman’s Bay. Aslant in the blue B lcy was the tremulous smoke column rising from the mass of tins in Winstone’s ruined oil store, hard by, and I must have unconsciously looked my incredulity, for he added: “There are certain mischances against which no

human forethought or precautions can altogether guard, but it is a fact that in the big Auckland bulk-oil installations the risk of fire has been elimin-

MAKING SURE OF THINGS!

ated as far as possible.” Aucklanders were shown, in the disastrous oil fire that broke out on Sunday, April 1, and lasted for several days thereafter, that once fire takes charge it rules with supreme arrogance, and indifference to the relatively Puny efforts of the ordinary firefighting appliances. The bulk-oil installations, however, are fitted with elaborate fire-fighting equipment, and the fire-foam devices, embodying the latest developments .of chemical research, yield extraordinary and effective results.

The whole business of handling oil Is redolent of romance and mercantile adventure. It is touched with the light of golden dreams, and echoes old legends of riches struck from the earth’s heart. Through the ages the Mysterious qualities of petroleum have been known, and the unyielding fires by the Caspian, where oil has oozed t® the surface for countless generations, filled the ancients with terror. It was not until the nineteenth century that mineral oil came into general use, and not until Otto Daimler and his contemporary investigators discovered tbe principle of the internal combustion engine did it assume any imposing prospective value.

Contrast this with the situation today. Gold and gems are less sought after than the oil-sands or porous oil deposits below the earth’s surrace. Millions have been won and lost in the pursuit of the fluid trea®nre. it has influenced international relations and domestic politics; stock operators have been ruined by it, or have watched soaring scrip values pile np fortunes in a day; and. gushers, B PQuting skyward, have wrecked colos*al derricks and caught surprised pros-

pectors in a terrifying dark-green flood. It is all for this, at the tail-end of an immense business, that coolies toil in East Indian distilleries, and a goat browses placidly in an Auckland allotment. Historic Concerns How a struggling London dealer started the Shell Oil Company was told earlier, when a tanker, the Oliva, was followed across half the world’s seaways. The same peculiar flavour of chance circumstance and careful commercial architecture is apparent in the development of other large oil concerns. The Gargoyle, as the widelyknown symbol of a Vacuum oil product, had an. origin almost as interesting as that of the Shell. Tile Big Tree brand has placed a Californian forest giant before all the world as a commercial symbol, and the Plume stands with the scallop-shell on a thousand hoardings. All oil companies and their brands

are widely known, because the powerful oil interests, embarking on competition that has never slackened in keenness, early realised the power of

advertising. To-day the big oil companies represented in Auckland are the Vacuum Oil Company, Shell Oil Company of New Zealand, and the Atlantic Union Oil Company, which has only recently come into the field. In addition, there are numerous wellknown New Zealand business houses handling various well-known brands of spirit and oil. Though hulk-oil depots are relatively new in New Zealand, the big storage tanks are already familiar objects. In Auckland the first tank was put up by the Vacuum Oil Company in 1926, and filled from a shipment brought by the tanker Lubrico. Subsequent shipments have made tankers quite familiar maritime visitors. Case oil is still landed, largely from the Union Company’s trans-Facific freighters. This is stored, as was the oil burned in the recent fire, in brick stores in Freeman’s Bay, and although the importation of case oil has diminished in volume, it is still a sufficiently large business, as stocks held by the different firms testify* Stacked to the lofty roof of a spacious shed, in serried rows as regular as a regiment, case benzine in store is a picture that, though prosaic,, is I not unimpressive. Huge drums and barrels are also | stored. It was some of these that, I flying through the air like white-hot j meteorites, contributed to one of the I most spectacular features of the Freeman’s Bay fire. Full of oil, they weigh a quarter of a ton, and the force necessary to send them skyward cau thereby be realised. Axle-grease for the old-fashioned dray is another commodity handled by the oil firms. White and soggy, it is like margarine in appearance, and most clinging to the touch.

The tins in which lubricants are distributed on the retail market are made in Auckland, and their manufacture is a substantial local industry. The administrative offices, too, reveal the magnitude of the oil business. They are all bustle and enterprise. The stock-taking, checking, and accounting in the oil trade are different from the same processes when applied to other commodities, and every man in the business is a specialist. But not until the installations are inspected is the characteristic thor-

oughness seen at its best. All oil storage at Auckland is under the control of a board consisting of Captain H. H. Sargeant, the harbourmaster, and representatives of the Government, naval authorities, and Defence Department, The inclusion of the two last interests reflects ‘the significance of oil as a war-time asset, and also as an embarrassment —offering a mark for bombs and gunfire. Space for storage in Auckland alone would hold several million gallons. One firm has three tanks, each cap-

able of holding one million gallons. Others have tanks with an Individual capacity of half a million gallons. The new tanks under construction for the

Atlantic Union Oil Company are of the latter measure. Certain fire-precautions are prescribed by Government regulation Stores are set below street level, or else, have 3-feet sills round the storage area, to prevent the spread of blazing oil, and for the same reason,

compounds in the outdoor installations are surrounded by sloping hanks, the top of which can be seen, in one instance, above the - outer fence. Dealing with these banks, a Government regulation stipulates that they must be high enough to enclose the maximum oil which the tanks are capable of storing, and 10 per cent, more besides. Since weeds and grass might dry in summer, and present a fire-risk, the banks and open spaces are kept punctiliously clear. Only ice-plant is permitted, the rest, in the Vacuum Oil Company’s allotment, being absorbed by the industrious goat.

llllHlllililllllllllllllllllllllllllllljlllllllllllH Under the Streets In a typical installation the benzine is pumped from the ship to the tanks, through mains under the streets, and from the main tanks to smaller working tanks, from which it is drawn off as required. ‘ Tank wagons rumble through the gateway,. dragging the “static chains” which caused so much bewilderment at first, and caused so ! many kind-hearted people to cry out, “Hey, mister! you’re dragging your chain.” The idea, of course, is to proj vide an “earth” for static electricity generated by the swilling of the fluid in the tank. Chains wear out rapidly, in two or three months, through the incessant dragging, and the worn piece is generally replaced by means of a shackle at ground level.

Inside the yard the wagons draw up under a large belfry arrangement, and through long nozzles their cargo is taken aboard. The friction of fluid in the pipes generates electricity, and all pipes are therefore earthed by means of special attachment. As the petrol splashes into the tank, which may hold as much as 1,200 gallons, the fumes rise, and drift away in a scarcely-visible shimmering mist. Dancing like heatwaves above hot j earth, this tremulous cloud is evidence of the perilous

Illlllllllllllllillliliilllllillilllllllll character of the commodity. An experimenter who lit a match in its presence would not have time to see the result of his experiment. With such stuff it is one thing or the other, and oil men prefer to be on the safe side. No unauthorised person can enter the yards without an official pass, and every man, no matter what his degree, must surrender his

matches. “Matches, please,” says the man at the portal. Employees’ matches are locked away, and a disc given as a receipt. On leaving the installation they tender the disc and their matches

are returned. Visitors’ matches are placed in a tray hung on the fence. Suitable manipulation of this system may result in a profitable exchange. Full boxes for nearly empties should be the aim of the experienced visitor. Dotted about within the installation are red posts bearing fire extinguishers, red tubs filled with sand, red buckets which can spread a film of sand fanwise, and more red posts from which hang fire-alarm triangles that can

raise a terrific din. In addition there is direct communication with the Central Fire Brigade station. The up-to-date installation has its staff well trained in fire drill, and everything savours of safety first. The loading pumps, under their belfry-like roofs, are entirely in the open except for the roofing iron overhead. There is no corner in which fumes can linger. Should the tanks catch alight, they would be deluged with that mysterious substance, fire-foam, of which more anon. The tanks themselves are immense things when one gets alongside'them, and the climb to the top is quite an arduous business. Before tackling it, both guide and visitor don rubber goloshes to prevent

the chance of sparks struck by shoenails on the iron. Types of tanks differ. The big tanks of the Shell Company have fixed roofs, and are fitted with cooling ds-

vices, pouring water over the roof and sides, to reduce evaporation. The Vacuum Company’s tanks, on the other hand, have floating roofs, which float on the surface of the petrol. They are very strongly braced and a close fit round the sides is obtained bv means of a fabric joint or “kearsage’ pressed outward by strong hangers placed at intervals round the circumference. Walking on this type of roof, which

is held to conserve stocks by reducing evaporation, one can feel the movement of the benzine underneath. The makers say that a Are could be lit on the iron roof without risk, but most people will prefer to take them at their word. The stability of the arrangement is preserved by various devices, including an arrangement for draining off water, but emergency ladders up the inner walls are provided in case the roof should ever start to sink while people are standing on it. Owing to its low specific gravity a man would be unable to swim in petrol. Even if the fumes did not at once overpower him. the best swimmer would sink helplessly to a dreadful death if he fell into one of these great reservoirs.

At opposite sides of the tanks are fire-foam sprays, each connected oy two pipes with a main pumping house in a corner of the installation. Here, in two 4,000-gallon tanks, are kept the agents which unite to form the mysterious creeping froth that is the only effective means of combating an oil fire. One tank holds a powerful corrosive acid, aluminium sulphate, and is therefore lead-lined, and the other holds a brownish fluid, sodium bicarbonate mixed with a liquorice solution. Both fluids come from America in crystalline form, and are mixed on the plant. Separately they would have no effect on a fire, but together they unite to form a clamm;, impenetrable froth, expanding rapidlv to eight times the volume of the constituent liquids. Such is the power of the expansion that the stuff creeps relentlessly, and implacably, and effectually blankets any kind of a flame. Since it floats, it is even mors effective on a blazing fluid than on any other kind of fire. The same principles are employed in the hand fire extinguishers at the oil installations. Having seen the big fire-foam

pumps, run by electric power on an emergency motor, and the mass «.f valves, pipes and pumps through •which the oil-flow among the tanks ia regulated, the visitor departs from the compound with the comforting knowledge that there is nothing haphazard in the fire-prevention measures adopted by the oil companies. At the outer gate you must not forget to retrieve your matches. I was unlucky. I got my ow-n box back-