THE TURAKINA FIRE.

Auckland Star, Volume LVI, Issue 245, 16 October 1925, Page 6

THE TURAKINA FIRE.

OUTBREAK AMONG COPRA. . «A SEETHING MASS." ORIGIN A MYSTERY. (By Telegraph.— Press Association.) WELLINGTON, Thursday. Before the fire on the Turakina was extinguished, it had obtained a strong hold amongst GOOO bags of copra stowed in Nos. 4 and 5 holds. The tire had spread rapidly, and tho hold was a seething mass. The steel deck began to buckle under the intense heat, and it was evident, that the fire was deepseated, and spread despite great volumes of water poured into the hold. Dense, oily black smoke and steam poured from every vent, and for a long time the fire defied all efforts to suppress it. or even hold it in check. The Harbour Board's tug Terawhiti was pumping salt water at the rate of a thousand gallons per minute, in addition to water from shore leads. Distinct bulges could be seen in the after-deck and on the port side oppoeite to where the fire had been first located. The vessel had already a list to starboard. On deck, in torrents of rain, firemen, half eeen through smoke and steam, worked hosepipes through every vantage point. The hatch was closed again, as the water was not having any effect, ana firemen in gas masks descended to No. 4 hold. A solid mass of black smoke poured from the manhole when it was opened. Holes were cut with an acetylene blowpipe, and water was directed to the centre of the conflagration, another thousand gallons per minute being poured in. In the afternoon the fire was extinguished. General cargo was confined in No. 4 hold, and there was no refrigerated cargo. The origin of the fire is a mystery.