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Story: Fires and fire services

A jumping sheet

Image
A jumping sheet

Members of the Petone fire brigade practise using a jumping sheet in 1917. The jumping sheet, which came into use in New Zealand in the late 1870s, was a useful way of rescuing people trapped in low-rise burning buildings.

Using this item

Alexander Turnbull Library, Albert Percy Godber Collection (PA-Group-00048)

Reference: APG-0501-1/2; G

by Albert Percy Godber

Permission of the Alexander Turnbull Library, National Library of New Zealand, Te Puna Mātauranga o Aotearoa, must be obtained before any re-use of this image.

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How to cite this page

Nancy Swarbrick, Fires and fire services – Early fire services, Te Ara – the Encyclopedia of New Zealand, https://teara.govt.nz/en/photograph/21869/a-jumping-sheet (accessed 25 June 2026).

Story by Nancy Swarbrick, published 10 March 2010.