21-23 French Bund Telephone 82020
1,000 calls upon the fire section of the brigade, there were 107 special calls, the ambulance section dealt with no fewer than 15,619 cases, not including the many times when the ambulances were used for removal of patients from refugee hospitals to newly established hospitals, and other hospital evacuations. The gr of this portion of the Brigade's activities has been phenomenal. In eight years, from 1931 to 1938 inclusive the calls have multiplied tenfold, from 870 in the former year to 8,876 in the latter. The highest number of calls in any one day upon the ambulance service was 85, but the figures generally prove that the institution of this service had proved of inestimable benefit, and thoroughly to have justified itself. En passant it might be remarked that observers have been deeply impressed by the rapidity with which the brigade answers these calls, and it is generally only a very few minutes between the making of the call and the arrival of the ambulance on the spot. The service is most efficient. But to go back to statistics; all street hydrants were regularly inspected and tested, the total amounting to 23,208, fire prevention led to no fewer than 6,762 inspections, and the writing of 1,514 letters, while stationary fire pumps in various buildings to the number of 105 received the usual monthly attention. In the Settlement there are 1,575 buildings with fire installations requiring periodical inspection, and when all these figures are taken into consideration it is apparent that actual fire fighting is considerably reduced by the unobtrusive preventive work which the Brigade is continually performing.
A particularly agreeable note is contained in the report on the subject of traffic and accidents. It is stated:—Traffic congestion is still acute, particularly in the down-town districts during the busier hours, but with the assistance of the Police, and e consideration shown by the majority of drivers of other vehicles, there is, considering the conditions prevailing, remarkably few cases of fire engines or ambulances being obstructed or delayed in responding to calls. Brigade machines, cars, ambulances, etc. were involved in a number of accidents, but all of these were, fortunately, of a minor nature.
This tribute from the Fire Brigade to the Police is more than welcome, for so many critics fail at times to understand the really difficult conditions under which the Police have to control traffic. But the Fire Brigade is probably best ina position to judge the efficiency of their fellow municipal servants, because of the ever present desire for speed in their comings and goings, and the fact that that speed is obtainable with a minimum of risk all round is the best indication of the good work of the Traffic Department. The whole summary is a testimony not only to those at present in control of the Brigade, but also to their predecessors who planned the Fire-brigade on lines best adapted to the peculiar needs of this city. It does not refer to the recent matshed fires in the western area, because they did not occur in the year under review, but this year's report will be awaited with interest, for, while the Brigade has had to handle similar outbreaks in the past, there is a danger that this part of their work will be found to have considerably increased. It is to be hoped that this will not: prove to be the case, but it is a possibility which cannot be overlooked, and with it the danger to foreign dwellings in the vicinity of which these matshed structures are now being too frequently erected.
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.