A HAMBURG CHIEF ON THE LONDON FIRE DEPARTMENT.

A HAMBURG CHIEF ON THE LONDON FIRE DEPARTMENT.

Herr Brandt Westphalen, chief of the fire brigade of Hamburg, Germany, being interested in the recent destructive Cripplegate fire in London, owing to its large area of destructiveness and the specialties of its location, came over personally from Hamburg to the former city to study the situation on the spot. His elaborate report just published bears out very fully the views expressed in the columns of FIRE AND WATER at the time. After a very clear discussion of the scene of the fire and the characteristics of Cripplegate, he proceeds to his conclusions as to the conduct of the Metropolitan fire brigade. He rfotes, first of all, that, instead of wot king together and as a body, the engines and their crews sought independently what seemed to them the best positions without reference to each other. From this cause alone he considers the fire was in two places allowed ro extend farther than was necessary, lie notes, further, that the supply of engines was insufficient; that the number of men was totally inadequate; that their officering was weak and without the advantage of strict discipline, and that reorganization of the whole system is absolutely necessary. After referring to the fidelity and self-sacrifice of the individual members of the Metropolitan fire brigade, Herr Westphalen asserts that its services are not such as a big city has the right to demand at the end of the nineteenth century. “ The contention that the London fne brigade is the best in the world is totally false.” "Every expert outside of England (he says) and, perhaps, many in it, are unanimous that a reorganization is absolutely necessary for such a city as the celebrated London; and, further, that London ij far behind other places in this respect, especially several German towns." Ilerr Westphalen’s opinions have been re-echoed by every foreign expert, several of whom visited the scene of the fire.

Herr Brandt Westphalen, chief of the fire brigade of Hamburg, Germany, being interested in the recent destructive Cripplegate fire in London, owing to its large area of destructiveness and the specialties of its location, came over personally from Hamburg to the former city to study the situation on the spot. His elaborate report just published bears out very fully the views expressed in the columns of FIRE AND WATER at the time. After a very clear discussion of the scene of the fire and the characteristics of Cripplegate, he proceeds to his conclusions as to the conduct of the Metropolitan fire brigade. He rfotes, first of all, that, instead of wot king together and as a body, the engines and their crews sought independently what seemed to them the best positions without reference to each other. From this cause alone he considers the fire was in two places allowed ro extend farther than was necessary, lie notes, further, that the supply of engines was insufficient; that the number of men was totally inadequate; that their officering was weak and without the advantage of strict discipline, and that reorganization of the whole system is absolutely necessary. After referring to the fidelity and self-sacrifice of the individual members of the Metropolitan fire brigade, Herr Westphalen asserts that its services are not such as a big city has the right to demand at the end of the nineteenth century. “ The contention that the London fne brigade is the best in the world is totally false.” "Every expert outside of England (he says) and, perhaps, many in it, are unanimous that a reorganization is absolutely necessary for such a city as the celebrated London; and, further, that London ij far behind other places in this respect, especially several German towns." Ilerr Westphalen’s opinions have been re-echoed by every foreign expert, several of whom visited the scene of the fire.