COUNTY FIRE BRIGADES.
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Lanark C.C. Spends L13,500 and Equips Four Principal Stations,
Dating back to the summer of the year 1908, THE COMMERCIAL MOTOR IIRS been a staunch advocate of the establishment of county fire brigades. No great measure of reflection is necessary to render possible a full appreciation of the scope for such new uses of selfpropelled engines, but the comparative paucity of effort, so far, is undoubtedly a matter for grave regret. It is, therefore, all the more an occasion upon which congratulations should be offered to the County Council of Lanark, now that it has inaugurated its fire brigade with five self-propelled machines of high quality and efficiency.
It is not necessarily an easy matter to arrange for the efficient operation of a fire brigade for wide county areas, and the use of motor plant is becoming
generally recognized as the only ad missible course. Furtherznore, owing to the likely infrequency of calls, as compared with experiences in urban and city areas, the dictates of economy forbid the delegation of firemen's duties to men who have no other occupation. For that reason, the precedent set by Lanark, in that the engines are largely manned by the county police, will probably be followed in other parts of the country. At the moment, only Renfrew and Forfar have got to the stage of practical politics in this matter of county protection, but there are indications, to which various passing references have been made in this journal, that some counties in England and Wales will follow Scotland's most-excellent lead.
In the case of Lanark, Firemaster Pordage, of Edinburgh, was consulted, and we understand that his recommendations have been followed throughout. Four main stations have been established at Shettleston, Bellshill, Larkhall and Lanark, with a fire-tender station at Cambuslang. These centres have been chosen so that they may serve populous areas in the county, and favour equal distribution of service when 6ills arise. The scheme includes provision for the establishment of subsidiary stations at other points, but their equipment consists only of hand carts, hose and ladders. It is calculated that all important populous places can be reached by the motor engines within 15 minutes of the receipt of the call ; also, in the case of large country houses and mansions, provided a telephone connection exists, these should be reached in well under the halfhour. There are, of course, various local and honsehold fire brigades in different parts of the county, but their resources are known to be small. The valuable Supplementary aid of the powerful motor equipment should prove most acceptable, and should, in the future, save irreplaceable pictores, tapestries, historic possessions, etc-. It will, we think, conic as a surprise to many readers of these lines, to know that the new fire-fighting service is reckoned to cost not more than Id. in the E on the rateable value of owners and occupiers in the county.
The engines chosen and purchased are : two six-cylinder Dennis: one six
e!ylinder Halley; one six-cylinder Morris; one four-cylinder Dennis (tender). The engine of each of the four turbine sets is specified to give 75 b.h.p., to be capable of developing a road speed for the vehicle of at least 35 m.p.h., and to have four forward and one reverse ratios: the Dennis engines work in conjunction with Gwynne-Sargeant turbine pumps; the Morris engine has a Morris turbine; the Halley engine drives a Mather-and-Platt turbine. The standard of pumping efficiency, according to the specification, is 430 gallons of water per minute at a pressure of 110 III. per sq. inch, with the power to lift water from a source at least 28 ft. below the engine, and to throw a jet of 150 ft. in height. At country conflagrations, it is obvious that one factor is the distance from a water supply, and for that reason it is specified that the equipment of each engine should include, in addition to 80(1 ft. of 3k-in. hose, no less than 1.400 ft. of 2,1 in. hose and 200 ft. of 11-in. hose. The whole of this hose was supplied by Messrs. McGregor and Sons, of Dundee. The usual extension and scaling ladders, life-saving gear and other appliances, including a firstaid hose coil on a reel, are fitted to the four engines with pumping sets. The Dennis tender, which carries 2,000 ft. of 21-in. first-aid hose, and 200 ft. of 1 gein. hose, also has a, small sevenstage centrifugal pump, a 40-gallon tank for water, and a reel carrying 180 ft. of hose for first-aid use.
We understand that it is the intention isf Capt. Despard, the chief constable of the county, to arrange that the engines can be manned by a mixed force of police and local tradesmen. The police members of the brigade will be immediately available on receipt of any alarm, as they will he drawn from the members of the force who are off duty for the time being. All members, naturally, have been given certain opportunities—of a limited character, we fear—for training; as, however, an instructor has been appointed, the brigade ought rapidly to be "licked into shape."
At the Hamilton Palace, Hamilton, on Saturday afternoon last, there was a large gathering of residents in the
county, of visiting iireinasters, and others, to witness the inaugural demonstration with the whole fleet. We do not know who was responsible for the programme, but we are bound to say that the function was a disappointing and dispiriting affair. As one of our illustrations shows, the machines were not massed when in work, but were distrileited at vurious points, and at considerable distances from one another, about the Palace. Compared with a recent demonstration at Leith, and with earlier demonstrations at Glasgow, the effect was poor, though we do not know sufficient of them to justify our questioning the wisdom of the motives which led to the adoption of the course under notice. We merely say that the spectimular point of view, which counts for so much when it is a question of impressing the lay mina of the r a tepaye r, was-perhaps from force of circumstances, as much as the wont of sufficient water near the Pa In —almost entirely neglected. We are still at a lees to account for the preference given to the plan of the demonstration. instead of the massing of the engines close to the Clyde. which was lett a short distance away. and the throwing of ton or more jets simultaneoilsly. People would not then have gone home thinking that it would go hard with their property if nothing 'miter could be achieved than the insignificant results which they had witaessed
After the muster in the wide space before the north front of the Palace. Colonel 1?. K. Stewart, the convener of the county, gave a short address, and Captain Despard followed with a few remarks about the brigade, the engines, and what was going to he done that afternoon. The Halley engine was then put in place to draw water from an ornamental fountain in the grounds, and it was obvious to tic' merest tyro that there soon would not be much left. Through a length of 450 ft. of hose, the Halley engine fed the water to rifle of the Dennis machines. which in turn returned it back towards The Palaee, and also sessaved the not-invonsiderohle task of forcing tire stream vertically up some 60 ft-. of hose, and delivering a jet which would
satisfy those who watched. Chiefly by reason of the lack of water, there was no use working hard, and no hard work was done, whilst one of the onlookers was heard to ask whether any jets were being worked inside the building. Attereards, the other Den_ ins engine, for a period of some 15 minutes, served three lines of hose, which terminated in small jets—probably from nozzles of not more than 1in. in diameter, and played Uncollvineingly upon the roof. From the standpoint of smartness, the brigade created a favourable pressiou, and it must not be thought that we are condemning, it in any way. The men obeyed the various signals promptly, and aid much of the work at, the double, whilst they manipulated the hose, ran out and coupled the lengths, mid took them up again at the finish of the proceedings in workmanlike fashion, which did both them and their chiefs every credit. All sense of insufficiency, which the spectators undoubtedly felt, was due to the want of water near the Palace in the first place and to poor stage management in the second. It appears to us that it would have been better, when it wils held i.eeessarv to play jets over the Palace, to have allowed at least two of the engines to have replenished the well of the fountain, or some improvised vessel of large capacity, also in propinquity to the Palace, and to have let the other engines, with short lifts, and stationed at no great distances from their source of supply, throw considerable volumes of water Over the building. This might have been (lone to more effect and purpose.
It must be admitted, in conclusion, that the late arrival of the Morris engine, which reached Hamilton only on Saturday morning last, may have upset preeoncerted arrangements. in this connection, it certainly appeared to us to he " hard lines " upon Messrs. John Morris and Sons, that their engine, in spite of its not having then been officially accepted, was not allowed to do anything.
Finally, is it not a bit expensive to let policemen learn how to drive on new, six-cylinder engines of hiss weight t We think so, -decidedly !