Sessional_Paper_1894 — Page 135

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10

No. 1994

HONGKONG.

REPORT OF THE SUPERINTENDENT OF FIRE BRIGADE FOR 1893.

Laid before the Legislative Council by Command of His Excellency the Governor, on the 15th March, 1894.

No. 5.

FIRE BRIGADE DEPARTMENT,

HONGKONG, 31st January, 1894.

SIR,-I regret to have to report a large increase in the number of Fires occurring in 1893 as compared with previous years. In hardly any of them was the origin of the fire explained, in many of them the origin was demonstrably suspicious, and in most of them apparently suspicious.

The decline and rise in the number of fires appears to keep pace with the care or negligence displayed in the insuring of effects in Chinese houses.

These policies are for the most part effected by agents acting for companies in Europe, such agents receiving a commission on the policies and having no other personal interest in the matter. They act through Chinese agents or compradores, and it is highly probable that these compradores in securing business for their employers enlarge upon the great advantage of being insured in bad times when an accidental fire will clear off in a moment at fair profit stocks that it might otherwise have been difficult to realize. It is quite possible too that such accidents might occur at a time when the original stocks upon which the policy was effected were depleted, the probable destruction of the house and of the books making the actual state of the stock at the time of the fire a matter of conjecture only. In this way the insurer might not only eat his cake but have it.

There appears to be a notion that under the double safeguard of a fire enquiry and the probable speedy extinction of a fire if it occurs the same caution in the administration of fire policies is not so necessary as it once was.

To a certain extent this notion is not without foundation as I think experience has shown that the Brigade may be relied upon to extinguish fires with reasonable despatch under normal conditions, but it is easy to imagine a state of things in which a fire might get out of hand and a repetition of the 1878 disaster be possible.

Every effort is made to minimize this possibility and the whole training of the Brigade and the arrangements in connection with it have as their central object the limitation of the area to be controlled and the provision beforehand of all such arrangements as are likely to save time and confu-

upon the occurrence of a fire.

sion

The first of these and one to which I attach particular importance is the running out more hose than is required to reach the scene of the fire. The first impulse of a fireman is to run out the hose up to the fire to attach the branch pipe and turn on water. If then he is ordered to take the hose upstairs say of the adjoining house which has just caught fire in the upper storey, he finds that he has not enough hose to enable him to do so. It then becomes necessary to obtain another length and to stop the water supply, an operation which always takes time and causes confusion and valuable time is thereby lost. All the firemen are therefore drilled to run out a considerable margin of hose bringing it round to the fire in a sweep, so that if it is required to go upstairs it can be done without any dislocation of the arrangements. Of all the provisions that can be made beforehand I consider this one of the most important, and it is now thoroughly understood by the Brigade and is always carried out.

Another important point is to constantly inspect from the inside the adjoining buildings. This duty is entrusted to the foremen who are told to do this from time to time and to report what they find to the Superintendent or Senior Officer present.

Further precautions are taken in having in readiness reserves of hose, and duplicates of all the more important appliances that are usually brought into use, and lastly in order to be prepared to meet as far as possible the danger arising from fresh fires occurring through the fall of sparks carried by the wind to a distance, a couple of fire despatch boxes are taken down and kept in readiness to be taken to any spot where they may be required.

With regard to these latter they have during the past year been slightly modified in the direction of making them much lighter, and they have also been increased in number. They owe their origin to the desire to take advantage of the excellent water pressure obtained from the hydrants, and it has been found possible to gradually extend their presence all over the Colony without encroaching on the normal vote for stores.

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