COVERED FIRE-PLUG.

Taranaki Daily News, 7 November 1922, Page 4

COVERED FIRE-PLUG.

COMPLAINT BY FIRE BOARD. INCREASED LOSS AT FIRE. An echo of the recent fire in Shortland Street was heard at the meeting of the New Plymouth Borough Council last night, when a letter was received from the Fire, Board concerning the state of the fire-plug on the occasion of the fire. It will be remembered that the firemen could not find the plug at the corner of Shortland Street and Carrington Road, and in consequence experienced considerable delay in obtaining connections from the other plugs in the vicinity, one lead of 600 feet of hose having to be used. The Fire Board’s letter said that the superintendent had stated that, owing to the brigade’s inability to find the plug, the loss had been several hundred pounds more than it should have been. The board added that it felt that its previous request that fire-plugs be not covered over when repair work was bing done, was one that deserved more consideration from the borough than had been accorded in the past; in fact, the board looked upon it as culpable negligence on the part of those responsible. In a lengthy report, the engineer (Mr. W. H. Cook) said that the turncock had arrived about a quarter of an hour after the brigade and had found a covering of dust and grit on the cover of the plug. It was almost impossible to prevent this in dry weather on untarred roads, especially where numerous cars passed. The surfaceman had also reported that he had cleaned the cover as recntly as the day before the fire. The Mayor (Mr. F. E. Wilson) said that 1 when the Fire Board had inspected the scene they saw what was apparently a freshly-made crossing, and it looked as if the metal bad been spread over the plug. There was no doubt, that dust and grit did cover the plug, but he could not believe that it had been cleaned the day before the fire. Another factor in causing the brigade to lose time in finding the plug was that the indicator was slightly askew, and did not show exactly where the plug was. It was an unfortunate occurrence, in view of the Fire Board’s previous request that the control of the fire-plugs should be handed over to that body. He thought that negotiations should be re-opened with that object, as the board had more interest in the plugs than the borough. He moved that a copy of the engineer's report be sent to the board.

Cr. T. N. Blackball seconded, and suggested that the engineer should take an occasional walk around and have a look at the plugs. If he found any of the council’s employees spreading metal over the plugs he should make an example of him. The Mayor stated that the engineer could not be expected to do that, but if he found an employee covering the plugs he would immediately discharge him. Cr. V. Griffiths said, with reference to the particular plug concerned, he dd not think the surfaceman was to blame. At that corner it was almost impossible to keep the dust and grit out of the plug, owing to the continual motor traffic working it in. The motion was carried.