HOUSE GUTTED STANLEY STREET.

Auckland Star, Volume XXXIX, Issue 114, 13 May 1908, Page 5

HOUSE GUTTED STANLEY STREET.

- ■■' ■ ■-■■—— • l~ — AMTLY ESCAPES IN NIGHT ATTtW A few rninutesr two o'clock this: lorning an outbreak of fire occurred in .- six-roomed donble-storeyed" house in itanley-street, occupied_by Mr. Ar-Lewfs, md owned by Mr. A. AL Myers, the reulfc being the total loss of Mr. Lewis' urniture and effects,- and the-complete rutting of the building, while the family iad to flee the burning houseby way >f the verandah rooL their egress by he ground floor being blocked by smoke tnd flame. . - . . _.-.-, .- -.- . The. family... including -Mr— and--Mrs'. Lewis, and their four children,-retired :or the ni°ht at about nine o'clock, "aD deeping upstairs, a boarder retiring a little later. About two o'clock Mr. Lewis got up to attend to one of the:hildren .that was sick, and immediately -i-j ietected the pungent smoke that wasEdtering into. the room- — Opening the loor, he was met by such a volume of acrid flames that he quickly closed it again, and running to the "window; threw it open and cried the alarm.. :He: then, set ; about- getting his wife, and. children, from the burning building hy way-of the roof of the verandah,-all escape - 1 downstairs being cut off, aid with the assistance of some neighbours., aroused hy his alarm and.- the crackling -Of - the fire, his wife and four young children, were hastily removed from their perilous position, the. insistence of. the occasion allowing no time for them to don amy attire -whatever, the whole family, being rescued in their night robes. Meanwhile the City Brigade had ieen summoned, but the .flames, which had evidently, been, gathering "volume some time before discovery, had pretty well enveloped the whole building on their'arrival. The brigade turned its first attention, therefore, -to prevent the spread of the flames, and this achieved, the fire itself, was quickly dispatched, although . .by this time the contents were beyond repair and the building itself, gutted. . The cause of the outbreak is attributed to some clothes, which were left nangmg •before a small fire in the kitchen grate* when the family retired- for the night. The Parnell police were promptly on the scene, and _ rendered - every assistance. The furniture was insuxed in tie Victoria Office for £15CL."'.- ~" ,;. . . : ,