GARAGES AS FIRE BRIGADES.
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The Story of a Village Fire and _a Lesson from America which Garage Proprietors May Find Profit in Studying.
By "Vim."
IN A COUNTRY place within 30 miles of London. a house and its valuable contents were utterly destroyed by fire recently. Had the flames been tackled in the rightway when they first broke out, it is probable that very little damage would have been done, but, by the time the official fire-fighters had arrived on the scene with all their equipment, not much more than a heap of ashes remained on which for them to try their skill.
This village, like thousands of others, relies for psotection against fire on an ancient engine purchased from some up-to-date town that abandoned horsed engines sometime ago and bought motors, and on an amateur brigade composed of tradesmen and their assistants, who are generally away from their homes from first thing in the morning until last thing at night. The horses for the engine are provided under contract by a builder, whose stables are over a mile from where the engine is housed, and as he only possesses two of those animals, they are usually out on business all day. On the rare occasions when they are wanted, messengers have usually to be sent in all directions to find them, and as they are not accustomed to being hurried, they are seldom fit to give a really spectacular display of fire-engine speed work when found.
The scene when an alarm of fire is given (perhans once in a year) would make a good-music-hall skeAtch. Only the descriptive powers of .a Dan Lone could do justice to the gathering-in of the brigade and horses, the turning-out of the engine, and the lather's progress to the fire—whenit gets so far ! As a rule, the firemen arrive in single numbers on all sorts of conveyances and in various stages of undress, although each has his helmet. Whatever bappens, even though to get it an amateur fireman may have to go five miles out of his way, his helmet is his first thought; with that badge of authority, though it should inadvertently be worn back to front, he feels competent to grapple with anything from a. gorse fire to a burning mansion.
The Horse Fails Unless it is Fresh.
At the village -where -the fire to which I have referred took place, the engine is. kept close to the old town hall. This. is in. the village itself, but the modern and better class of houses have been built at the top of a 1-in-7 hill, which leads out of the village. Rumour has it that the builder's two horses are quite capable of pulling the engine up that bill when they are fresh; but no opportunity of testing them under actual work-a-day conditions had ever presented itself until this recent fire, for the simple reason that the residents had been commendably careful not to set their, houses. alight. Bo when, towards two o'clock of the afternoon, the maroon banged forth and announced the dread tidings that the brigade was wanted (it took a quarter of an hour to unearth the man who understands how to explode it), and when the horses had been hurriedly taken out of carts arid rushed across heaven knows how many fields at breakneck speed-, harnessed to the engine and galloped to the foot of the hill, they got no more than a, quarter of the way up it before one of them dropped down from sheer exhaustion and the other only saved himself from falling by leaning an his companion's carcase. Repeated attempts were made to rouse their fire-fighting spirit, including giving them lengthy "breathers," but without marked effect.
Then somebody thought of the local garage people. Could they help? They could, and they did, by hitching a motor lorry to the engine and hauling it to the scene of the conflagration at a speed that the ancient machine had never dreamed of in its palmiest days, at grave risk of shaking the thing to pieces. It was just one hour and three-quarters from the first alarm te the arrival of the engine, during which time the local butcher (who holds the rank of captain and had long before left the engine to its fate, and who was at one time reputed to have joined the brigade so as to obtain the use of an axe for business purposes), devoted his attention—with the assistance of the few other members who had forsaken the attractions of a brilliant arrival seated on the engine—to chopping down the fowl-house which, being situated at least 300 ft. from the main' building, was in a. position that might be fitly described as only remotely dangerous.
How the Garage Can be of Service.
I have related this incident—and many provincial garage proprietors could cap it with aTot more of the same kind—as an introduction to a suggestion which deserves to be considered. The American periodical called the "Automobile Trade Journal" states that at the town of Sycamore, 111.1 which has a population of 4,500 inhabitants, an arrangement has been entered into with a garage there under which the town authorities have purchased a motor-driven combination pump, hose reel, and ladder fire-engine, and the garage stores it, maintains it in good condition, and furnishes the men to man it. The men are all mechanics employed by the firm, and are therefore always on the spot or near at hand. A large alarm gong has been installed in the garage, together with a special telephone line. Mechanics, one imagines, are likely to make smarter firemen than butchers or grocers, and certainly this must be so where the engine is mechanically propelled.,
Now, it seems to me that this idea might be copied with great advantage here, and I believe that many, town councils would see the force of the argument if it were put to them by the motor traders in their districts. A modern fire-engine costs a good deal `of money, but it deteriorates very little, and since the object of having fire-fighting apparatus at all is to prevent damage to property, the only sort that is worth buying is the best. For certain rural districts it is probable that a small, fast lorry, well equipped with chemical extinguishers, would be as useful as a real fire-engine, because it is often impossible to get water at a fire, and the finest pump in the world is only an ornament if there is nothing to pump. The Sycamore firm charge the town 150 dollars pen month for .storing the engine, °maintaining it and furnishing the crew. Maintenance includes all upkeep except the cost of new parts. A daily inspection of the machine in required, and the engine starter has also to be tested every day. The firm accept the liability of having to pay for damage done by the engine to third-party property if it is.caused by the negligence of any employee. The members of the crew are paid. extra whenever they respond to an alarm.
Altogether, consider this scheme to be one that deserves attention, and I hope that garage proprietors will think it over in all itsbearings, with a, view to approaching their local councils on the matter. The average British village amateur brigade may be a joy to the ordinary onlooker, but itpresents a different aspect to the person whose property is going up in flames.