Fire_Brigade_1953-1954 — Page 10

7.

FALSE ALARMS

Considerable difficulty is still experienced in appre- hending culprits who originate malicious false alarms, despite the prompt co-operation of the Police. The number of false alarms is not high and over 56% of these calls were made with good intent.

CAUSES OF FIRES

8. Careless handling and negligent use of inflammable liquids were still by far the most common causes of fires. The indiscriminate discarding of cigarette ends and children playing with matches also caused a large number of house fires. Many fires are traceable to the negligent use of electrical appliances and the cause of such fires was generally a short circuit due to unprotected and faulty wiring. It is hoped that surveys of wirings in premises, which are being carried out by the Power Companies will considerably reduce the number of fires from this cause.

CASUALTIES

9. Details of casualties recorded as a result of fires and other causes (i.e. landslides, house collapses etc.) of the number of persons rescued by the Brigade are as follows:

Death Injury Rescued

Rescued but died later

Fires

10

71

3

Other Causes

13

59

19

8

10. No serious injuries were

suffered by Brigade

personnel.

FIRE RISKS

11. The number of calls received from squatter areas indicates that serious fire risks still exist in these areas. How- ever as a result of the constant lectures and talks given by officers of the Brigade and the daily work done by the Squatter

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