During the past ten or fifteen years, the Settlement Fire Brigade has been manning the Customs fire floats for harbour or dock fires, but the Cus in the near future will have own staff with which they will the Poochi, the powerful float ow moored at' the Peking Road Jelly. The Chief OMicer of the Har-hour Aghting equipment will be Mr. Ww. J. German, one, Ancrhr., formerly of Phe Rangoon Fire Brigade, Mr. German should arrive from Home during the frst week in June, after which. details. regarding the {ake over will be discussed and definite date fixed. Mr. German was Chief Officer of the Richmond Fire Brigade for several years, before he came to the Orient in'1029.
He" was appointed Deputy." Chief JOMicer of the Rangoon Fire Brigade in that year and in March, 1930, became ofclating Chief OMcer during the absence of the Chief OMicer Jon tong leave for eight months.
Through the courtesy of the Munlthal Council and Capt. J, Gordon Dyson, Chief Officer of the Shanghai Fire Brigade, a group of about 20 Chinese firemen have been trained during he past year for service with the Customs float, Three foreign. officers, likewise, have been trained. with the Settlement Brigade and they fare now skilled in the use of all kinds of equipment, including the more technical apparatus The Poochi will be the Arst line fof defence in Mghting harbour res, supplemented by a second float, and, It necessary, a third. In the Poo: fehl, Shanghai has the enviable record Jot having the most powerful fireboat the world, excepting those which function in' New York Harbour. [Capable of throwing 5,000 gallons of water each minute, a. specially designed engine allows the vessel to steam along while hurling this huge barrage. Steam Is kept up at all imes and it is only a matter of minutes before the boat attains its ull speed of 11 knots. The gears are flexible and sensitive to the {touch and may be set to the fraction jof an inch. The Poochi's towers fare 40 ft. in height, capable, of pouring down water on the decks of Jany ship coming into Shanghé She is equipped with the latest fire Aghting apparofus, including torches for cutting through steel Jdecks, and smoke helmets for the firemen, as well as chemicals for Jdealing' with special types of are. Thousands of feet of line are stock: Jed in the Poochi, with a sufficient supply of couplings and breechings, and as many as 48 streams of water may be directed at various a fire, Originally built in 19 fumigation work, the Poochi was redesigned by Capt. B. G. Green for fire-fighting purposes and was handed lover by the New Engineering Work® Jon December 27, 1982. On conversion, her proportions were:—Lengih 117'tt, beam 24 ft, "depth 9 Three powerful Hayward-Tyler_ reciprocating pumps are capable of delivering nearly 90 tons of" water Jeach minute. The cost of the ves sel will run to two lakhs of dollars.
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.