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The establishment date of the Wanganui Fire Board is based on the date of the notice that announced the appointment of its first members, 29 October 1918. The Board's disestablishment date is based on the commencement date of the Fire Service Act 1975, 1 April 1976.
The records of the Wanganui Fire Board were transferred to the Whanganui Regional Museum on 20 December 1980 by the New Zealand Fire Service, Region 3 Headquarters.
                    [custom2] => 

    
New Zealand Legal Information Institute, http://www.nzlii.org/ (accessed 26 October 2011).
    
New Zealand Gazette 1918, Volume III, Government Printer, Wellington, 1918.

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            [history] => 
Establishment
The Wanganui Fire Board was established on 29 October 1918 under the section 15 (1) of the Fire Brigades Act 1908.1 It was formed to be responsible for the protection of life and property from fire within the recently constituted Wanganui Fire District, and inherited the responsibility for the operations of the Wanganui Fire Brigade.
On the application of the Wanganui Borough Council, the Wanganui Fire District was constituted by an Order in Council issued on 24 September 1918, in accordance with section 4 (1) of the Act. The Borough of Wanganui was declared to be the boundaries of the fire district. With the passing of the Fire Service Act in October 1949, the district was renamed the Wanganui Urban Fire District as set out under section 17 (2) and the second schedule.2
The Board's first members were George Bullock (appointed by the Governor-General); William Ernest Albert Gill, Gordon James Reid, and Charles Rooking Carter Robieson (elected by the insurance companies); and William Jabez Mace Luxford, Leslie Joshua Sigley, and Andrew Thompson (elected by the Wanganui Borough Council). Its first meeting was held in the Council Chambers, Wanganui, at 7.30 P.M. on 13 November 1908.3
The Board operated under the Fire Brigades Acts of 1908 and 1926, and the Fire Services Acts of 1949 and 1972.
Functions and Responsibilities
Under section 26 (1) of the Fire Brigades Act 1908, and section 43 (1) of the Fire Brigades Act 1926 it was the duty of the Wanganui Fire Board to establish and maintain efficient brigades for the suppression and extinction of fires, and for protecting life and property from loss or damage by fire, and to provide buildings and equipment as the Board deemed necessary for such purposes. This included the establishment of fire stations, organising of volunteer fire brigades, purchasing leasing and holding of property (including the acquisition of land for the site of a fire station), and the borrowing of funds (with Ministerial approval) to finance buildings, land and other requirements.
Section 32 (1) of the Fire Services Act 1949 made it the duty of the Board to make provision, in accordance with standards approved by the Fire Service Council, for the prevention of fire, the suppression and extinction of fires that occurred, and the protection of persons and property endangered by fire, and to secure:

    
The services for the Wanganui Urban Fire District of such fire brigade or brigades and such plant and equipment that was necessary to meet efficiently all normal requirements;
    
The efficient training of the officers and members of every fire brigade in the district;
    
The provision of suitable fire-stations having either on the fire-station or associated therewith such accommodation and amenities for brigade members and their families as the Fire Service Council and the Wanganui Fire Board considered necessary for ensuring an immediate response to an alarm of fire;
    
Efficient arrangements for giving an alarm of fire and for summoning brigade members;
    
Efficient arrangements for obtaining, by inspection or otherwise, information required for fire-fighting purposes with respect to the character of the buildings and other property in the district and in any area which the Board was under an obligation to protect, the available water-supplies, the means of access thereto, and other material circumstances;
    
Efficient arrangements for ensuring that reasonable steps were taken to prevent or mitigate damage to property resulting from measures taken in dealing with any fire;
    
Efficient arrangements for the giving of advice in respect of buildings and other property in the district and in any area which the Board was under an obligation to protect, as to fire prevention, restricting the spread of fires, and the provision of means of escape in case of fire.

The legislation also empowered the Board to make by-laws providing for any of the following matters in the district:

    
The maintenance of discipline and the ensuring of good conduct on the part of the officers and members of any brigade;
    
The enrolment of persons as volunteer fire police and the control and duties of those persons;
    
The establishment of a volunteer fire brigade and the maintenance, control, and duties of such a brigade;
    
The payment of gratuities for voluntary or special services rendered by any person, whether a member of any brigade or not, in respect of any fire;
    
The establishment, maintenance, use, and protection of fire-alarm circuits;
    
The attendance and services of any brigade at fires that took place on board any ship or vessel, and the payment by the owners of that ship or vessel of fees for the services rendered by the brigade;
    
The payment of fees for the services of any brigade in connection with any fire due to the breach or non-observance of any Act, regulation, or by-law by the owner or occupier of the land or building on or in which the fire took place;
    
The payment of fees by the Wanganui Borough Council to the Board for any inspection made by the Board at the request of the Council;
    
The regulation of the storage of kerosene, explosives, empty crates, cases, and other packages, shavings, hay, straw, and other inflammable substances;
    
The attendance and services of any brigade at fires that took place outside the boundaries of the fire district, and the payment by the owner or occupier of any land or building on or in which any such fire takes place, or by the owner of any personal property stored thereon or therein, of fees for the services of such brigade;
    
The prohibition of the use of any electrical installation in any building until such installation was inspected and approved by officers appointed by the Board, and the payment of fees for such inspection;
    
The inspection at any time (without fee) of any electrical installation in use in any building;
    
Requiring owners of buildings to provide such fire-escapes as was deemed necessary;
    
The payment of fees by the owners or occupiers of buildings for the inspection of such buildings;
    
The imposition of fines for the breach of any such by-law.4

The Fire Services Act 1972 continued to make the Wanganui Fire Board responsible for making provision in the district and in any area which it was under an obligation to protect, in accordance with standards approved by the Fire Service Council (and the Fire Service Commission from 1974), for the prevention of fire, the suppression and extinction of fires, and the protection of persons and property endangered by fire. Section 32 (1) empowered it to persist in providing:

    
Such fire stations, fire brigades, and equipment as was necessary to meet the standards approved by the Fire Service Council;
    
For the efficient training of the members of every fire brigade under its control;
    
Accommodation and amenities for fire brigade members and their families at or in the immediate vicinity of a fire station to such extent, if any, that the Fire Service Council required for ensuring an immediate response to an alarm of fire;
    
Efficient arrangements for receiving and giving an alarm of fire and for summoning fire brigade members;
    
Efficient arrangements for obtaining, by inspection or otherwise, information required for fire fighting purposes with respect to the character of buildings and other property, the available water supplies, the means of access thereto, and other relevant matters;
    
Efficient arrangements for ensuring that reasonable steps were taken to prevent or mitigate damage to property resulting from measures taken in dealing with any fire;
    
Efficient arrangements for the giving of advice, when requested, on fire safety, restricting the spread of fires, and the provision of means of escape in the case of fire, in respect of buildings, whether erected or proposed to be erected, and other property.

Structure
The Wanganui Fire Board was a body corporate having perpetual succession and a common seal, and the power to acquire, hold, and dispose of real and personal property, to sue and to be sued, and to do and suffer all such other acts and things as bodies corporate did and suffered. Under the Local Government Loans Board Act 1926, Local Authorities Loans Act 1956, the Public Revenues Act 1926, the National Provident Fund Acts, Local Government Commissions Acts, the Board was deemed to be a local authority.
The Board was made up of seven members between 1918 and 1927, consisting of one member who was appointed by the Governor-General; three members who were elected by the Wanganui Borough Council; and three members who were elected by insurance companies that were carrying out business within the Wanganui Fire District. In accordance with the Fire Brigades Act 1926, Board membership was reduced to 5 - the members elected by the Council and the insurance companies were reduced to two each - which continued through to the dissolution of the Board. A Secretary was appointed to assist with administration.
Members served for terms of two years, with elections being held biennially.
A requirement of the Board was the submission of annual estimates of expenditure to the Minister of Internal Affairs (1918-1949), the Fire Service Council (1949-1974), and the Fire Service Commission (1974-1976). Funding for the Board and its operations was provided by fire insurance underwriters, the Wanganui Borough Council, and the Government.
The Board was also required to appoint a Chief Fire Office and Deputy Chief Fire Officer (known as the Superintendent and Deputy Superintendent of Fire Brigades prior to the commencement of the Fire Services Act 1972) for the district. In the event of a fire, the duties of the Chief Fire Officer were:

    
to control and direct all fire brigades and industrial fire brigades, and all persons there who placed their services at the Chief Fire Officers disposal;
    
to enter upon any land, building, or structure and, if necessary, break into any building or structure that was on fire or in the near neighbourhood of the fire for the purpose of taking any steps which the Chief Fire Officer deemed necessary in order to carry out their duties;
    
to take any equipment required to be used into, through, or upon any land, building, or structure where the Chief Fire Officer deemed it necessary for the purpose of carrying out their duties;
    
to remove from any building or structure which was on fire or was in the near neighbourhood of the fire, without responsibility for any consequent loss or damage, any flammable, combustible, explosive, or dangerous material found therein;
    
for the purpose of extinguishing or preventing the spread of the fire, cause any building or structure which was on fire, or which was adjacent to or in the vicinity of any building or structure which was on fire, to be pulled down, either wholly or partially, or otherwise destroyed or damaged;
    
to cause water to be shut off from, or turned into, any main or pipe in order to obtain a greater pressure and supply of water for the purpose of extinguishing the fire;
    
to cause any motorway, highway, road, street, private road, right of way, service lane, access way, or thoroughfare in the vicinity of the fire to be closed for traffic during the continuance of the fire;
    
to remove any vehicle impeding the operation of the fire brigades, and, where reasonably necessary for that purpose, use force or break into any such vehicle;
    
to remove, using reasonable force if necessary, any person who, by their presence or otherwise, interfered with the fire-fighting operations or who was, in the Chief Fire Officers opinion, endangered by the fire;
    
to shut off or disconnect, or order any person having the control thereof to shut off or disconnect, the supply of gas, fuel oil, or electricity to any building or structure that was on fire or that was in the vicinity of the fire, or the supply of electricity to any electric tramway or trolley bus route in the vicinity of the fire;
    
to, at the time of the fire or within a reasonable time thereafter, pull down or shore up any building or structure or any portion of any building or structure that, in the Chief Fire Officers opinion, had been so damaged by fire as to be, or to be likely to become, dangerous to life or property, after, at the Chief Fire Officers discretion, first removing the contents thereof; and the expense of any such operation, so far as it related to the pulling down or shoring up, being borne by the owner of the building or structure and, so far as it related to the removal of the contents, being borne by the owner of the contents, to be paid to the Board;
    
generally do all other things that were reasonably necessary for protecting life or property or for extinguishing the fire or for preventing its spread.5

Disestablishment
The Wanganui Fire Board was dissolved on 1 April 1976 in accordance with section 3 (2) of the Fire Service Act 1975. All assets, contracts, debts, engagements, and liabilities of the Board were vested with the newly established New Zealand Fire Service Commission (which controlled the New Zealand Fire Service formed under the Act). Responsibility for the provision of fire services in the Wanganui Urban Fire District were taken over by the New Zealand Fire Service, Region 3 Headquarters.

    
p.3672, New Zealand Gazette, 31 October 1918, No.144.
    
p.3360, New Zealand Gazette, 26 September 1918, No.133.
    
p.3708, New Zealand Gazette, 7 November 1918, No.147.
    
Section 43 (1), Fire Brigades Act 1907 and 1908; Section 60 (1), Fire Brigades Act 1926; and Section 33 (1), Fire Services Act 1949.
    
Section 41 (4), Fire Services Act 1972. See also section 31, Fire Brigades Act 1907 and 1908; section 48, Fire Brigades Act 1926; and section 37 (2) Fire Services Act 1949.

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