Fire Vol 6 no2

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ISSN 2324-2779 Volume 6 Issue 2 Mar 2015—Jun 2015 Established 2010

NEWSLETTER OF THE AUCKLAND AUCKLAND FIRE BRIGADE HISTORICAL SOCIETY

“Bad luck Goldie” survives 42 years

By Hayley McLarin, Auckland Star, 5 January 1988 Divisional Fire Officer Norm Golding nearly died twice during tires when he used breathing apparatus without air in the tanks.

After 42 years in the service, Mr Golding says he will retire this month known as "bad luck Goldie". Twice he took breathing gear without air in the tanks and was rescued by fellow firefighters.

Mr Golding has worked at every station in Auckland and for 27 years maintained fire hydrants as a second job.

He wrote a Fire Service manual on Auckland waterways and helped establish the brigade’s water department.

"If I had my time again I would still be a fireman," he said. "I will miss working with a bunch of dedicated guys." Mr Golding was lured into the job by a fireman when he asked what firefighting was like. The fireman told Mr Golding it was a great life. Mr Golding, then 19, attended a job interview and said nervously he could do plumbing. He imagined he would be asked to mend hoses.

"But in my day we were immediately put on a fire engine and you learnt from the old hands." He lived in the married quarters at the Pitt St station and told friends it was the only job he knew where workers were paid to sleep with their wives.

While there, he organised theatre sessions and was involved in the first and only permanent fire brigade competition against other stations.

Mr Golding thinks it will be hard to switch off and forget the Fire Service. He intends to run a tourist spot from his Tudor house at Puhoi.

Among the major tires he fought were the Blades fumigation fire which was the biggest chemical fire of its time in 1970, the Farmers’ bulk store tire in 1963, the ICI chemical fire and the Vitafoam fire in 1984.

"Every run was a danger run with adrenalin running through your veins.”

He never had an accident in a fire engine and took sick leave only for surgery. "But I couldn’t get back into the service on the standards they have now. It’s nothing but the best."

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Patron Allan Bruce AFSM, FIFireE Management Superintendent: Roger Callister Dep. Superintendent: (NZFS Liaison) Vacant Secretary/Editor: Colin Prince Treasurer: Kevin Farley (Temp) Committee Peter (Sprats) Doughty Grant Manning David Neil Forbes Neil John (High-rise) Walker Gary (GT) Walker Web Master Brendon Pascoe NZFS Ex Officio Member: Fire Region Manager Kerry Gregory Correspondence To: Auckland Fire Brigade Historical Society P.O Box 68-444 Newton, Auckland 1145, NZ membership@afbhs.co.nz Website: www.afbhs.co.nz Like us on Facebook Membership fees: Full: $15.00 Associate: $10.00 (overseas) Brigade/Corporate: $50.00 Membership year: 1 April—31 March Membership Fire Museum Network– USA NZ History Federation Inc. MOTAT Society—Affiliate UFBA—Associate member NZ Ex Firefighters Assn—Affiliate Registered Charity number: CC45510

SOME OF THE ALL TIME GREATS A PICTURE FOR GOLDIE TO BE PROUD OF. Standing are, from the left of the picture: Ron Levesque, Ken BurtonWood and Brian Hyland. Seated, from the left of the picture: Jerry Lynch, Len Harland, and Goldie himself. All of them people who, in one way or another, have left their mark on the Fire Service.

Norm Golding, who has rung up the longest number of years in the Fire Service retired in January—Photo by Phil Doyle,, Auckland Star 1988.

Footnote: Goldie is a member of the AFBHS and is living in Orewa

CHIEF FIRE OFFICERS 1874 - 1974 Capt. A. Asher (1865).

Supt. J. Hughes (September 5, 1874).

Supt. H. Gladding (June 30, 1899).

Supt. C. A. Woolley (September 20, 1901).

Supt. W. L. Wilson (May 1, 1918).

Supt. (later CFO) G. A. Mackenzie (August, 1949).

CFO G. Drummond (April 13, 1956).

CFO L. F. Wilson (February 1, 1963).

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Cavanagh’s motor Works Fire, 1937 One of the most spectacular fires in the history of Auckland destroyed the motor body building works of Cavanagh & Company Limited, engineers and coachbuilders, St. Martins Lane, City; at three o'clock this morning.

The damage is estimated at least 15,000.

In addition to the building, valuable machinery and a number of motor vehicles in course of construction and repair, and about 25 kits of tools belonging to employees, were destroyed. The kits were valued at amounts varying from 25 to 150.

The engineering works of Cavanagh & Co., which have been established about 15 years, cover an extensive block of land adjoining the First Church of Christ, Scientists, Symonds Street, with a further block at the rear facing St. Martins Lane. lt was this rear block, and the office adjoining, that was destroyed. Of them this morning there remained only the concrete frame and a twisted heap of steel wreckage.

The building was already ablaze from end to end when the fire brigade was called at 3.01 a.m. A neighbour, who was awakened by the sound of an explosion, stated that when she looked out there was a glare of fire in the eastern front portion of the building. As she looked, flames seemed to break out everywhere.

Four fire engines -two from the city, one from Parnell and one from Ponsonby — with 40 firemen, were on the scene within a few minutes, and by then the building was beyond saving. Below the works, in Grafton Gully, was an occupied house, and in the first few minutes of the firemen’s efforts it appeared that it must surely catch fire.

Flames were shooting from the windows of the factory over the roof, and it was in great danger. For 10 feverish minutes the firemen concentrated on this angle with the constant threat of a falling wall setting the house ablaze — and they won. For nearly an hour after, they continued the fight, but that first 10 minutes gave them the ascendancy.

The heat of the fire was so great when the brigade arrived that windows in the church and Cavanagh’s front building were breaking and two trucks standing in St. Martins Lane in front of the burning building were ablaze.

The whole area of the Grafton Gully was lit by the column of flame that rose 50ft. or more from the works, and residents for a distance about were awakened by the explosions of a number of drums of tempering oil that were in the building. The blaze of destruction to them was the most spectacular sight seen in the city in years. ln the darkness of the night and across the depths of the gully, the building was outlined in an inferno of fire, to which the explosions, the crash of falling timbers as floors and roofing gave way and the thrashing hiss of firemen’s jets added a bedlam of noise. Rain was beginning to fall, but fortunately the gusty wind of the later morning had not yet reached its height. Otherwise, the fire would have been more difficult to control.

This morning, the scene was ragged and ugly Sheet iron from the roof, burnt timber and twisted and already rusting metal of gutted motor vehicles and machinery piled the two floors. Across a big Chevrolet truck had fallen the chassis of a heavy Diamond T truck from the floor above, both of them twisted by the heat of the fire. Desolation was added by the rain. The fire is not known how to have originated.

1937 Dennis 750-900 g.p.m pump at Fire headquarters

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Massive Oil Tank Erupts in Auckland Flames buckle steel roof NZ Herald Monday February 14 1966 A million-gallon oil storage tank erupted in sheets of flame after an explosion in the bulk fuel depot of Shell Oil New Zealand ltd, at Freemans Bay, last night. The explosion, which buckled the sides and peeled back the heavy steel roof of the tank like a half-opened sardine tin, came about 10 minutes after workers had started pumping kerosene from the 12115-ton Dutch tanker ‘Korenia', berthed at Wynyard Wharf.

Two simultaneous alarms were received at central fire headquarters at 6.15pm and within seconds, a dozen machines from city and suburban stations were racing to the scene of what is regarded as the major fire risk in Auckland. Thousands of gallons of foam compound which was poured into the static lines on the huge tank within minutes of the fire breaking out, prevented the fire from spreading. Under the harsh glare of searchlights, firemen stayed on guard playing four jets of water on the blistered and buckled tank in an attempt to reduce the temperature of the kerosene.

Crewman in the tanker had slammed shut the valves on the line feeding the tank as soon as the alarm was raised and the tank was only about one-third full. But the fire in the high—risk area containing millions of gallons of aviation and motor fuels, stringent precautions were taken.

Roads Closed: Police and tr affic patr ol car s closed all r oads leading to the ar ea fr om Fanshawe Str eet and no members of the public were admitted.

Shell Co. officials in Auckland were unable to estimate the damage last night. The fire was believed to have been caused by static electricity. Mr D. Evans, of Devonport, a kiln operator at the timber yards of C. Aickin & Sons Ltd, opposite the installation depot, was one to raise the alarm. "I heard a rumbling," said Mr Evans, "and the next thing there was a deafening bang. I saw a sheet of flame and a cloud of black smoke soar out of the tank." He ran to a street fire alarm. As his call was received, Mr A. Elwarth, an Auckland Harbour Board slipway watchkeeper, telephoned to report the explosion. He had also used a private harbour board fire alarm.

Smelt Fumes: " I was just finishing my tea when I smelt the fumes," said Mr Elwar th. " l looked out and saw the tank smoking. When I went inside to ring the fire brigade, I heard it explode.”

Three pumps from the central fire station and one each from Parnell, Ponsonby, Remuera, Mt. Eden and Mt. Albert raced to the call. There was also a turntable ladder, a hose-laying lorry and two foam tenders. Firemen toiled desperately in an effort to gain early control and prevent a further explosion. Three other million-gallon tanks were in the same compound confined only by a low earthen bund wall. The burning tank contained 300,000 gallons of kerosene.

"We were lucky to get there before it got away," said the deputy chief fire officer, Mr AW. Bruce. "You can imagine what would have happened if the other tanks had caught fire."

Linked Hoses: Fir emen quickly linked hoses to foam dr ums and star ted pumping the compound into the burning tank. One fixed foam pipe on the side of the tank was ruptured by the explosion, but the other worked perfectly.

Other fire brigade foam hoses were rigged to force in foam through ruptures in the roof of the tank. Firemen on extension ladders poured the foam through in the face of intense heat and overpowering fumes. Firemen continued to douse the inside of the tank with foam and fresh stocks were brought in from the oil company depot at Mechanics Bay. Four hoses played streams of water on the sides of the tank to cool it off. The intense interior heat blistered the paint on the outside.

Mr Bruce said an all-night watch would be kept on the tank and the cooling measures would continue until the oil company experts were satisfied the danger had passed.

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