When Alarums Ring

Sun (Auckland), Volume II, Issue 405, 13 July 1928, Page 8

When Alarums Ring

Auckland’s Fire-Fighting Efficiency

EFFICIENCY is the touchstone of fire-figlitinsr operations : perfection the ultimate aim of every brigade. Yet efficiency will not control, nor will perfection be attained, if the alarm of fire is not given with promptitude. Auckland, facing a fire loss of £130,000 for the year just ended, is at present the centre of a controversy upon alarums and theii cost, and upon the respective merits of metropolitan and volunteer brigades.

A suggestion made recently that the Auckland fire system was known to the Dominion as “The Old Curiosity Shop” contained no inference that the alarms operating throughout the city were not efficient. On the contrary their efficacy as a safeguard against broken circuits and faulty contacts never was questioned. It was the comparative cost with other systems working efficiently all over the world, against which protest was voiced when the city offered to control Newmarket’s fire services for an annual charge of £6OO, plus £450 for installing alarms. The Newmarket council is now called upon to decide whether it will give up its present volunteer brigade and come into the area controlled by

This, however, is admittedly dependent upon the point of view. An inspection of Auckland’s watch room, with its long cupboard of neat shutters and discs, is sufficient indication of the merit of the duplex alarums. Against that it is anticipated in some quarters that the installation of a complete circuit of boxes throughout the suburban boroughs now operating on volunteer brigades would increase the service to its highest point of utility. AUCKLAND’S HEAVY LOSS It is a coincidence —nothing more could be suggested—that when trade is depressed, fire calls are frequent. Figures prove this. Where the explanation is to be found is even more difficult to discern. Auckland, far from escaping the universal tendency, has just closed the worst year of its history for fire losses, as well as for the number of calls which the brigade has been compelled to answer. Its record for the 12 months ended June 30 has sounded the top note of a crescendo of exceptionally heavy losses, and has also reached the uppermost key in the rising scale of administrative and operating costs. Government figures reveal that during 1926 £1,264,766 was lost to the country in fire losses —approximately 17s 7d for every head of population. Auckland’s losses increased from £39,935 in the year 1923-24 to over £130,000 last year, and in the same period the annual calls rose from 283 to 574. A comparison between Auckland and other centres over the three years 1923-24 to 1926-27, supplies definite evidence of the position occupied by this city:

Thus it is seen that this city lost nearly as much during last year (£130,000) as it did in the three previous years outlined in the table (£185,404). BOROUGHS COMING IN

the Auckland Fire Board, or modernise its service by the installation of a system of effective alarums and the employment of a permanent man at the station. It is claimed that the day of the volunteer fire brigade is fast disappearing in urban districts, and that eventually all but the small villages will be under central fire boards. On the other hand there is a distinct feeling in some parts of New Zealand that the tendency is not toward centralisation, but in the direction of substantially improving volunteer institutions in all townships and in many provincial centres, with part-permanent brigades operating in the larger towns. PART-TIME BRIGADES It is true there are only four fullypaid brigades in the Dominion to-day, most of the centres possessing a few permanent men and the remainder specially trained volunteers. Incidentally, that is the system favoured by the United Fire Brigades’ Association.

At the present time half a dozen of the outlying boroughs of Auckland are without the jurisdiction of the fire board. One Tree Hill is to come in shortly, and the reticulation of that area with alarums will be advanced as soon as the machines arrive. Over 300 alarums are operating in the city, and these are being added to at the rate of approximately 30 every year. It is a tribute to the system that, according to Superintendent W. L. Wilson, it has never failed. It is disturbing to reflect upon the mounting figure of fire losses and consider it in the light of recent legislation compelling the erection of noninflammable buildings and the installation of automatic alarums. But science, adding to her many triumphs, will perhaps improve fire prevention methods and fire-fighting equipment to such a degree that eventually the fire engine, with its soul-stirring—yet fascinating—siren, will be relegated to the position of a minor and negligible factor in the community?

Cost Losses £ £ Auckland .. .. 50,400 1S5.404 Christchurch .. 38,000 154,055 Dunedin .. .. 44,500 127,418