In starting the engines in connection with the harbour, consideration has to be given to the locality of the fire. Experience has shown that it is impossible to safely work pressure to a higher point than is able to afford a sufficient jet for houses placed between Queen's Road and the harbour. The rule therefore is to work direct from the harbour with all houses comprised within those bounds, but in the case of fires at a higher level than Queen's Road, the engines are distributed at intervals up the hill as far as may be required; they are connected the one with the other with hose and each engine pumps into the other until the level of the fire is reached. All this occasions great wear and tear of engines and hose and fire materials, and leaves only a very limited supply of water when the fire is reached, but it is inevitable so long as the fresh water supply is arranged as at present. Nor do I see that the increased supply of water from Tytam will much improve matters unless with it there is an increase of pressure, a uniformity of distribution and a certainty of water at all times.
It is impossible to insist too much upon the element of certainty. It is not as if fires could be met by arrangements devised for them at the moment. They must be treated in accordance with general arrangements applicable to all cases, and of these the first desideratum is water, and until one can base one's arrangements upon the certainty of a sufficient fresh water supply at any given point, the harbour must be regarded as the single basis of one's calculations.
The hilly nature of the site of the City of Victoria would seem to point to a system of high level tanks as being that best adopted for the requirements of the Town. In the case of a fire spreading up the hill it would be of immense advantage to be able to meet it from above and the constant growth of the Town up the hill points still further in this direction. Nor am I at all sure that with such a system, if properly devised and carried out, the necessity for land steam engines will not almost entirely cease to exist. The cost would of course be considerable and it may not be thought to be worth while to incur it. The proposed Praya reclamation scheme, however, if carried out, will necessarily bring this matter to the front, and in the meantime I would merely ask His Excellency's attention to the question and also to the consideration as to the extent to which the working of the reclamation scheme will interfere with the water supply from the harbour.
The following is the arrangement at present in force with regard to the steam engines. Three of the engines proceed to the Praya. Two of them run out hose to the fire. The other stands by with fires lighted, but does not run out hose until the order is given. The fourth engine remains in the station in reserve. Each engine has its own hose reel, and the branch pipes have special marks to indicate to which engine they belong. In order that in the confusion the branch pipes may not be attached to the wrong hose, a slight delay takes place between the removal of each engine from the station, and the driver is under orders to see that his engine never starts without the proper hose reel accompanying it. With a view further to obviate any miscarriage from hurry or ignorance or neglect, duplicate branch pipes are supplied, two being attached to each engine and two to each hose reel. The branch pipe is frequently termed the nozzle, but strictly speaking the term "nozzle" is applicable only to the end of the branch pipes from which the water issues.
Generally speaking the efforts of the Brigade have been directed rather to the simplification of duties and to the instruction of the men in a few broad elementary rules with regard to the running out of hose, the protection of the adjoining property, and such like matters, together with the provision before hand of all such arrangements as are likely to be of service on the occasion of a fire.
Owing to the constitution of the Fire Brigade, which consists of Policemen who have in the first place to consider their Police duties, it is not possible to assign particular duties to individual firemen and it has been sought rather to familiarize each one with the elementary rudiments of Fire Brigade drill, and by a careful prearrangement and simplification of appliances and by general rules as to dealing with fires, to minimize the drawbacks occasioned by the impossibility of assigning special duties to selected individuals.
Among some of the principal changes that have been made in this direction, I may mention the substitution of a broad thread screw for the narrow thread that it was customary to use in the hose couplings. A great saving of time and labour has been effected by this change, and it has been found to be of the greatest possible advantage to the Brigade. Another change that has been found very valuable has been the institution of a light service in the form of what is termed a "Supply Cart." This Cart can be drawn by two men, and contains all the necessary appliances for dealing with a fire at the outset. Inasmuch also as it has been found that very frequently a fire without actually spread- ing to an adjoinuing house, will ignite it inside to the extent of making it necessary to play water upon the incipient flames, the Supply Cart carries with it two hand pumps and two extincteurs, which have been constantly found sufficient to extinguish the flames, when without these appliances resort must have been had to a hose, with the consequent delay of stopping the engine, attaching a new length, and a great destruction of property by a deluge of salt water, even supposing the flames to have not made uncontrollable way in the interval.
Other changes of a similar kind have been made, of which I have already mentioned the duplicate branch pipes, and in which I may include the institution of reserve hose reels to be taken to the fire
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