RUTLAND STREET FIRE.

Auckland Star, Volume LXI, Issue 198, 22 August 1930, Page 6

RUTLAND STREET FIRE.

Til connection with Wednesday's fire in E.utlaild Street I do not think the brigade the best possible for the girls. Surely .the sensible and practical thing- to do was to'post a man at the head of the ladder to assist the girls out of the window and not allow them to have to scramble out unaided to find a foothold on the ladder, which, by the way, did not even reach the windowsill. The presence : of firemen at the window would also liave, ( allayed the natural fears of the girls. SPECTATOR.

[Owing to the rapid spread of the flames the brigade did not arrive until practically, all the girls were out of the building, and an independent spectator says that the brigade handled the situation remarkably well. The misplaced zeal of some of the excited dcrs in urging the girls to jump hampered the brigade and the police. The superintendent of the Fire Brigade was not on the scene with; the first machine, as he was engaged on duty elsewhere. "There were only four girls not out of the building when we got there," said an officer of the brigade this morning, when the letter was shown to him. "As soon as the brigade arrived the jurup-'ng sheet was ordered out, and a ladder was put up, but the latter was not used, being merely ordered as a standby. The crowd was in such a state ' 1 of panic that the brigade could not at first get near. Some men on the pavement were advising the girls to jump, aud the police had to deal sharply with one misguided • person before he would desist. It was impossible for firemen to get under the window sooner with the jumping sheet owing to the foolishness of the public, who were encouraging the giris to jump. Men were crying out, and some of the men under the window held out their arms to induce the girls to drop down. The ladder referred to was not used, as there was 110 necessity for it."—Ed.]