Fire - what we all fear the most

[touringcarfan]

Not just in rural areas are you exposed We know a bloke who has a flat he rents out in Devonport The tenant
managed to set the joint alight one evening You can see the Devonport fire station from the address, but the
firetruck and gloryboys that attended came from Birkenhead ! One can imagine the extra damage incurred
in the time it took for that to happen

It is true that most fires do take hold very quickly and on occasion the `local` fire appliance might be out of area. This scenario you mention would suggest that both of the Devonport appliances and the Takapuna appliance were unavailable. It would be unlikely that the Birkenhead appliance would have responded from their own station but more likely have been on a cover move to Takapuna. That is still a fair travel down to Devonport and would certainly have allowed ANY fire to increase in size.

Anthony

[ERC]

It would be unlikely that the Birkenhead appliance would have responded from their own station but more likely have been on a cover move to Takapuna. That is still a fair travel down to Devonport and would certainly have allowed ANY fire to increase in size.

Donkeys years ago when I took my Fireman's badge in senior scouts at a fire station (a great course by the way; I learned and remembered a lot) as I understood it then, there was a system by which the nearest station would indeed cover the next along the system, by sending an appliance over as soon as an appliance was despatched. Obviously, somewhere along the chain, they might be a bit light, but they were very well organised.

Fortunately, we are just around the corner from the Birkenhead station, but I still dread to think what could happen in a timber framed house.

[touringcarfan]

Donkeys years ago when I took my Fireman's badge in senior scouts at a fire station (a great course by the way; I learned and remembered a lot) as I understood it then, there was a system by which the nearest station would indeed cover the next along the system, by sending an appliance over as soon as an appliance was despatched. Obviously, somewhere along the chain, they might be a bit light, but they were very well organised.

Fortunately, we are just around the corner from the Birkenhead station, but I still dread to think what could happen in a timber framed house.

At the end of the day any structure is at risk and if you are building a new house in the city and have the means, then install a sprinkler system. PROTECT WHAT YOU VALUE. Unfortunately structural collapse is not UNEXPECTED in rural areas. This in not to say it can`t happen in the city however it would be considered a rarity.
Fire is a beast which creates nothing but misery and suffering and I feel for the people concerned in the incident above.

Anthony Sampson