FIRE BRIGADE WORK.

Wairarapa Age, Volume XXXI, Issue 9133, 4 July 1908, Page 5

FIRE BRIGADE WORK.

ADDRESS BY FIRE INSPECTOR

HUGO

Fire Inspector Hugo delivered an address to the members of the Mas-' terton Fire.Brigade and Fire Police, at the Centra! Station, last evening, the -members of the Fir 5 Board being also present. Mr 0. N. C. Pragnell, Chairman of the Fire Board, briefly introduced the speaker, stating in his remarks that Inspector Hugo had a colonial v reputation as an expert fireman. The number of Fire Boards now registered in the Dominion was 19, and of these Inspector Hugo was chief Inspector. Any remarks he would make in the way of instruction would be most acceptable, the speaker thought, to ail present. ( Inspector Hugo said, in opening, that he might perhaps have some sharp things to say, but his object l v was not to complain for the mere sake of complaining, but to raise the standing of usefulness of brigades. The speaker said that in the matter of life-saving most country brigades were lamentably ignorant. The motto of fire brigades was "United to Save." To save what." he asked. To save not merely property, but the lives of human beings endangered by fire. For example if a person were found in a suffocating condition in a room there were few who knew exactly how to proceed in the way of lifting up such peison and conducting him to a place of safety. He asked Superintendent Jenkins if any members present had had any instruction in this class of work.

A member of the stated that he remembered some instruction in the direction mentioned given by a previously existuit ambulance coips. This member gave, at the request of the Inspector, an illustration of what he had learnt, and Mr Hugo pointed out defects in the handling of the subject. The Inspector then gave an illustration of the practical use of the rope in lowering away an inanimate or other body from a height by means of the "chair" knot, and extremely simple but very effective arrangement of the rope which permitted of a person being lowered in a must comfortable posture. Addressing Captain Dixon (of the Fire ( Police) the Inspector said that the first duty of the Fire Police Corps was to see that all persona were safely removed from a burning building thus greatly relieving the Super- . intendent. He illustrated a method of inducing artificial respiration different to that hithe:to taught to local students of first aid. He also emphasised the utility and interest attaching to the physical drill wh:*ch firemen should specially practise, ard dwelt shortly on an interesting feature of fire brigade work known as escalading or the scaling of wal f, - etc. Regarding the indiscriminate \. use of water the Inspector gave some useful hints to his hearers, utatftfg that a very common fa.Jle.cy existed among brigades, and the lublic generally ttat • Water being water would put a fire cut, It was not yet recognised sufficiently that the use of one good stream of water was worth six small streams which merely fed the fire. The essential thing was to lower the temperature below burning point, and for the purpose chemical cylinders of fire extinguishers were valuable where water was hard to procure. Mr Hugo said, dealing with the question of hose, that in most of the brigades at Home the first 100 feet of hose was rubber lined to minimise as far as possible the loss of pressure by friction. He also emphasised the necessity for the scientific concentration of pressure by judicious combinations of ho a e, stating incidentally that too few superintendents realised what could be done by careful and scientific concentration. The thoughtless breaking of windows was another aspect of fire brigade work which the Inspector alluded to, Mr Hugo stating that it was a very fruitful source of fire-spreading. The explosion of smoke was a detail also briefly referred to, the Inspector stating that certain kinds of smoke—dense, black smoke—was really disintegrated carbon, and when it did explode (as had been the case in a big fire at Wellington) the building caught fire from end tu end. The speaker concluded an eminently practical and valuable address by impressing on the men the need for obedience to discipline, stating that the public would have no respect for a brigade which did not obey its officers. He hoped that on his next visit hs would find that the brigade had taken in land some of the suggestions he had offered and on that occas'on he would go deeper into the question of fire-fighting. Mr Pragnell said that the thanks of » the brigade were undoubtedly due to I Inspector Hugo for his lucid and valu- \ able address.

Messrs J. H. Pauling, W. Morris and J. C. Ewington, of the Fire Board, all ex-firemen, also eulogised the capable manner in which the Inspector had treated his subject, Captain Jenkins also tendering his hearty thanks, and assuring the Inspector that his men would endeavour to profit by his remarks, and that on his next visit the Inspector would notice an appreciable inprovement in the methods of the brigade. The meeting then gave three hearty cheers for the Inspector, who briefly returned thanks, and thanked the men for the intelligent interest they bad shown in his remarks. !