DISASTROUS CONFLAGRATION.

Auckland Star, Volume XXVI, Issue 122, 1 June 1885, Page 2

DISASTROUS CONFLAGRATION.

MESSRS ©WES AND GRAHAM'S

WAREHOUSE GUTTER

Inatii-aaoes, £13,590; Loan, Jao.coo,

One of the most disastrous fires that haß - occurred in the city for many years past c broke out shortly before eight o'clock this morning, its location being Messrs Owen f and Graham's well-known wholesale ware- ' 1 liouso, situated near fhe New Zealand In- j eurance Buildings, Queen-street. At the i limo the alarm was given there were many • people in Lower Queen-street, but for some | minutes after the pealing of tho first tocsin ] there wero no external evidences of , the work of the tiro fiend, arid it was 1 not until there was an unmistakeable J issue of smoke from tho windows of the warehouse that the seat of danger was die- , covered. Discovery of tho Firo. Tho firo was discovered by R, Barker, tho etoreman, who has been in tho employ of tho firm for upwards of fourteen years. ■ Part of his duty is to havo the warehouse oponed by eight o'clock, tho salesmen and othor employes not coming to business until nine o'clock. On passing tho Queen-street front, he noticed a slight hazy vapour arising from the galvanised iron water pipes running down the fa_ade of the building. He called the attention of two pasaers-by to tho circumstance,remarking that ho supposed it was steam caused by the heat of the sun. On opening the fiont door, however, he found that tho whole of tho department on the street level was full of smoke. Ho at onco rushed to tho corner of Queen-street and Cuptoms street and sounded tho firo alarm on tho electric tire alarm post. Tho pealing of the big firebell at the Fire Brigade station showed that the alarm had been hoard. Barker returned to tho front, and entered the building with the view of discovering the exact position of the fire. The smoko was intense, but ho fflpnd that there was no firo either on the fl*r on the street level, or on the story abovo thot. There was a roaring as if of flames from tho upper story, and here ho consequently as-iimed tho scat of the fire to be. By this tima ho was nearly suffocated with smoke, and to make his escape he opened one of the windows of the third, ttory and clamborcd out on to the front parapet. By this time tho Fire Brigade bad arrived, and Barker called out to Superintendent Hughes that thore was no firo in either the second or third story, and that it must bo up above. Progress of the Fire. Scarcely had the last notes of tho alarm diod uwoy in tho distance when the Fire 1 Brigade put in an appearance with their hose reels, ladders, and other appliances. A crowd had assembled before* the Queenstreet front of tho warehouse, and thither tho Brigade proceeded. Thin wreaths of smoke could be seen issuing from the i window of tho second and top stories, i and also from the spouting. It was at , first believed that tho lire was on : the first floor, and tho brigade was ; about to commence operations there ■ when Barker appeared at the window i and called out that the fire was above. While Barker was making his escape, a i ladder was placed in such a position as to roach the windows of tho top story, and r two branchmen ascended with a couple of ; leads of hose. Tho windows wero broken in, 3 and dense volumes of smoke found egress through tho apertures thus mado. Jets of water wero poured into tho building, but it was utterly impossible to tell whether or not tho direction was the proper ono. I No flame could be seen, and the whole placo appeared to be filled with smoke. This was the ptsition of affairs when Barker informed Superintendent Hughes that thoy , wero in error in supposing that the fire was \ upstairs. He had discovered in thomeantime . that it was raging in the basement. Fire- ' man Harley was despatched to the rear with two leads of hoeo and a detachment of men. On proceeding to tho back of i tho building, by means of tho right of way from Customs-street, Harley found that , tho wholo of tho northern portion basement l was on firo. This was tho packing depart- , mont of theeetablishment, and Vfosiillodjwith _ bales of packing cloth, boxes, and cases of . goods ready to go out. The door was , burst opcul and two streams of water ' brought to boar upon tho fire. Strango t as it appeared, there was little or no smoke in the basement, which was filled with clear bright flame. The firemen meanwhile con- ' tinuod their operations at the front. It was impossible to gain an entrance to the first floor, owing to tho suffocating smoko with which tho wLolo building was filled. For half an hour tho branchmen continued to play from tho parapet. They desisted for a fow momonts whilo the Salvage Corps, under Captain Field, placoJ. tarpaulins over tho goods in the rooms beneath in order to provent them from boing damaged by tho water. Tho flames by this l timo had ascended through the roof, and at last tho roof itself gavo way. This had the effect of ventilating the upper flat, and 5 enabling tue firemen to carry their branches j through tho window. This they did, and ■ the remainder of their task was compare- ■ tivoly easy, Tho horning debris was coin- , plele'ly deluged with water, but so ditlicult i was the task of extinction that the men wore Btill at work at eleven o'clock. Tho r gang at work at the rear had an easier task ) to perform, tho absence of smoke seconding their efforts considerably, and enabling , them to extinguish the fire in the basement I in a very short time.

Inspection of the Building,

Shortly after the Fira Brigade were withdrawn, a reporter of tho Stab, accompanied by Mr Superintendent Hughes, went through the building. The lower floors were covered with water, which, however, wasbeingprbpelled streetward with brooms. Tho staircases were veritable cataracts, and a continual shower of dripping water made the scene a very dismal one. Penetrating first to the basement storey, it was found that the fiercest portion of the fire had occurred near a window at the northern end of the portion of the warehouse fronting the right-of-way. One pane of glass in this window was bro___n, and tho fragments of glass were lying inside the building. None of_ the glass was discoloured, which indicates that the pane was broken before the fire broke out, All the other glass in the window was cracked, and discoloured with the smoke. The fire had burned with great intensity amongst a quantity of paper and ot. eiu.bi_h, and had then travelled to the shaft of tbp hydraulic lift, by which means it had obtained access to the floors above. The ba.ement ia full of packingcloth, empty boxes, etc, and besides the goads burnt a considerable amount of damage bas been done by water to a quantity of goods already packed and ready t) bo sent out to customers. The floor above the basement stores is occupied by the Manobetter Department. The flames have injured tho goods stationed in the immediate vicinity of thg lift, and tho whole of the heavy stock is completely saturate I with wat.r, Tho nr-xt floor is the haberdashery department, and the greater p-riion of tho perishable stock Hero is completely ruined by water.

The Top Storey,

It is here that the effects of the fire are most apparent. The flat is divided into two departments by a brick parapet wall. The room on tho northern side was the reserve clothing department, and into it the shaft of the lift opened. It is difficult to describe the actual damage done in this room, but it is doubtful if £5 could be realised from the whole of the salvage, which lies strewn on the floor amongst heaps of charred clothing, paper and ashes. The roof is wholly denuded of slates, and the rafters are burned almost completely through, and many of them havo collapsed altogether. The floors and walls are charred _ to a depth of more than half-an-ineh, and will all require to be replaced. The shelves were stocked with piles of trousers, coats, vests, shirts, etc., and not a singls shelf had been left untouched by the flames. The articles were almost invariably burnt at the fold, which was the portion exposed, and_ there were hundreds of trousers, for instance, in good condition, except for the important fact that they were minus a portion of the leg where they had been scorched by the flames passing over the pile. It is irnpos.iblc yet to arrive at an estimate of the damage in this department, but in tho adjoining cno, which is separated from it by a small iron door, fully .£IO,OOO worth of property must, have been ruined. This latter loss would have been wholly avoided had the doer referred to bosu closed on Saturday night, Tho flames found ingress through the doorway, and then extended to the skylight, the surroundings of which are

considerably burnt. The damage in tfii. department, which is devoted to ladU,' goods is more the result of water than of hre. On ono counter alone, thore were « po_ed boxes of feathors valued at aW £l,ooo,andthe S e]are|notworth20 8a lto e e^ now. Again, on another counter were sh«™>_ njwly opened, and worth £700, and it i. doubtful now if they would 'fetch £20 Rn also with the othor goods. It was evident that the draught carriod tho flames un fn tho lift shaft, to the top storey, and it w « fortunate that there were few goods mwl ■ the shaft on tho intermediate floors or th« damage would havo been much creator As it was, the greater part of the woodwork with which the shaft was lined was bum?., out, BU Caulked Floors. This fire affords further evidence in favour of Superintendent Hughes's theory of caulked floors with down pipes on th« outside. Had the top floor of'Syre" a_d Graham s warehouse been prepared In this manner, there can be no doubt that betw«. B _ £12,000 and £15,000 loss on property damaged by water on the intermediate floors would havo been avoided. The"' pr sent b.iding regulations only affect the four external walla of a warehouse and tho sooner they are altered in this respect the bettc- will it be for the insurance com. panics and the owners of these places

The Damage. It is impossible yet to estimate the exact amount of damage, but it is believed that it will reach nearly i.'3o-OOO—fully half of which has been done by water. The building is also considerably damaged Tho northern portion is unroofed' and a portion of the southern p or ! tion. Tho rear wall of the buildine also appears to havo sustained considerable injury, and, of course, a large portion of the flooring will require to be replaced. Insurances, The following are the full insurances:— Stock—Kew Zealand, £3,0G0; Hanseatie £1,500; London and Lancaster, £1,000 • Hamburg, £1,500; Victoria, £2,000; Fiie* Association, £2,500; Union, £1 000 • Standard, £1,000; Norwich, £4000 • Northern, f 3,000; National, £3,000; Sun'£2,soo; Liverpool, London, ond Globe' £2,000; United, £1,500; South British' £2,000; Colonial, £2,000; Manchester' £1,000; Mercantile Union, £2,000 • Im'. perial, £3,000 : total, £40,500 BuildingNew Zealand, £2,000; Norwich Union £1,000; total, £3,000. ' '