3

H.—6a.

Levin.—sth May, 1920: Private dwelling—a fireman severely cut about hand. Waihi. —Isth May, 1920 : Private dwelling—child badly burned, and died in consequence. The total number of " calls " received throughout the fire districts for 1919-20 was 1,112, as against 876 for 1918-19, an increase of 236, and which includes increases under all headings as follows : Fires, 480(416) —increase, 64; chimney fires, 124(95) —increase, 29; bush and rubbish fires, 208 (105) —increase, 103; false alarms, 275 (238) —increase, 37; out-of-district fires, 25 (22) —increase, 3. Out of the 480 actual fires 14 arc reported as due to incendiarism, 6 as having occurred in unoccupied premises, and 182 as of unknown origin. Of the 180 tires, 140 occurred in dwellinghouses, 27 resulting in total loss; 20 were damaged to the extent of from 50 to 90 per cent, of their value, 18 damaged from 25 to 50 per cent., and in the remaining 75 cases the damage ranged from slight loss to 25 per cent, of their value. Losses throughout the fire districts : The three heaviest district losses occurred in Auckland (.£39,691), Christchurch (£19,306), and Oamaru (£15,787). The total loss for the twelve months ending 30th June, 1920, amounted to £137,772, an average loss of £287 per fire: although there was an increase of 64 in the number of actual fires, this shows a decrease of £13,381 as compared with the loss of £151,153 during the preceding twelve months. The insured loss throughout the Dominion for the year ended 31st December, 1919. amounted to £415,620; throughout the fire districts for the corresponding period the insured loss amounted to £120,173. Appended are the following tables : — 1. Summary of calls attended by each brigade. 2. Fire loss in each district. 3. Annual cost of each brigade. 4. Summary of the causes of fires in each district. 5. Personnel and equipment of each brigade; also detailed reports dealing with each fire district. I have, <fee, Thos. T. Hugo, The Hon. the Minister of Internal Affairs, Wellington. Inspector of Fire Brigades.

1. Summary of Fire Calls.

District. Fires. I Chimney Fires. i [ Bush, Grass, „ . mdEubblsh AUu . ms lures. I Out of ™ , , District, j Totab - I ... Auckland Balclutha .. Christchurch Dannevirkc.. Dargaville Dunedin Feilding Gisbome Greymouth Hamilton Hastings Hawera Hokitika Kaitangata Lawrence Levin Masterton Milton Napier New Plymouth Oamaru Ohakuno Palmeiston North Petone Port Chalmers Rotorua Taumarunui Tauranga .. Te Aroha Timavu Waihi Waitara Wanganui Whangarei Woolston 105 1 94 12 2 77 4 12 13 17 11 3 4 3 14 5 9 7 14 7 11 3 15 8 14 5 10 . 23 29 1 40 2 4 3 1 3 1 7 3 1 i 2 3 30 124 1 19 63 1 1 85 37 1 11 6 10 3 2 1 9 291 2 5 210 14 1 4 2 23!) 1 8 29 13 1 35 16 4 8 1 4 1 23 5 1 6 1 1 15 J2 2 2 3 1 20 10 '7 1 20 :: 6 6 5 15 2 31 28 24 ■' 5 'l' '.I;. 2 '2 48 5 2 15 208 275 25 1,112 Totals 480 124