SCENE AT A FIRE

Ashburton Guardian, Volume XLIV, Issue 10106, 7 May 1924, Page 7

SCENE AT A FIRE

YESTERDAY'S EXCITEMENT

URGENT CALL TO PETER STREET

The excitement caused in Ashburton by the ringing of tiie fire-beil is an education and an eye-opener (and verily a mouth-opener as well) to strangers from other and larger towns or cities. There is such an excited expectancy, such a bustling and running about, such a rushing to windows, gates, and coigns of vantage, that the blase stranger from the city wonders at the scene —the neglected shops, the stream of traffic following the engine, and the lined streets of people. He forgets, however, that in a small town each person's circle of acquaintances and friends embraces the town itself, and that very few are totally unknown to one another. It will be at the house of an acquaintance, at least, that the fire is. Or perhaps a dear friend !

Who knows ? Nobody did yesterday, except the firemen who were hastily buckling on their tunics and helmets. And they did not stop to tell the others who crowded about the brigade station door, for with a whirr and a rattle they were off. Up Burnett Street they came, along a lane of motor-cars, horses, carts, bicycles, and pedestrians. Swiftly they passed them, and as swiftly the lane behind them closed in and followed them, like a backwash, content to follow in their wake.

But not all ! For a portly constable panted alongside the engine, and made several desperate attempts to board it. Another 20 yards, and he was panting faster than the engine; but his cylinders, though driving at a great rate, were not equal to those of the engine, and he was soon drawn into the human backwash

And it is on record that his usually cheery face was absent from the scene of the fire !

Up Burnett Street, along Park Street, and round into Peter Street coursed the "engine, with its serpentine tail comprised of a long line of motorcars, bicycles, horse-drawn vehicles, dogs, and pedestrians, in that order, all cutting the street corners in a manner which would have been alarming in peace time. Yes, in peace time—for is not a fire like a war. upsetting everything in a jumble of fire, smoke, water, insurances, and violated traffic laws !

The engine pulled up at No. 2 Peter Street. The backwash caught up its creator, and surged and rolled around it. But where was the fire ? Merely a short circuit. And the crowd short-circuited —for home and tea.