JUST IN TIME.

Auckland Star, Volume LXI, Issue 229, 27 September 1930, Page 10

JUST IN TIME.

EXIT THROUGH WINDOWS BLAZE AT MOUNT EDEN. ENGAGEMENT RING RECOVERED. SEARCH IN DEBRIS. .Members of a Mount Eden family had just time to scramble out of the windows of their home in Stokes Road at three o'dock this. morning, ..when it'. wasdiscovered to .be a mass of flames. Mr. J. Paul, the tenant of the house, was awakened by his 'wife, and both of them could hear , the crackling of flames in the 'living rooms on the other side of the house. Mr. Paul first went' to investigate,; and he was met in the passage by a ball of fife, rolling towards him. He bolted, for, the front door, but' he ,was the only one to get out that way. The others,'four'in number, had; barely time to seize- some sort of a wrap and get through the windows before the flames broke into the rooms.It was a practice, to shut all the doors in the house, and thus it was that the lire Avas able to get such a strong hold on the far side of the dwelling. The outbreak started in- the. dining room, and, fanned by a .strong wind which blew directly across to the other side of the building, was'.soon beyond all hope of control. ; All the .household - could do was stand and wait-for the arrival of; the fire brigade. There was. no possi-l Jbility of saving anything, Forgot Penny; for 'Ph one. The first thing one of the girls did when she fqilnd : (herself 'in the garden. was to race for the public telephone down tlie street. &h'& telephoned the correct number, but oould get-no reply. In her franti<» haste she had {forgotten to bring a penny, with-her.,- At the other, end th& ibrigade -' iealled and called - into the mouthpiece;. but\could get no reply. It was not - until soma, time. later that the Mount- Eden exchange got through' to them. - ' :, ' ;■■ ■ Vv >. -' , .-.v The brigade- got the alarni- too late to be aible to do' - more thail-s take measures .to save the house on the windward side. As it was, the near the house was scorched, and the windows.■cracked. The brigademen consider that; it was only the presence of a thick barniboo hedge the two houses -that saved it. The wind was 'blowing straight on "to it. ' '' l Mr. Paul this morning watched- the smouldering ruins., and thought of .a watch and locket which he always carried in his coat pocket. He looked at the place where his coat had hung over the end of his bed. He could tell exactly where it was. "I wonder," he said. "Of course there is no possible chance, but . . and he started to clear the foot-deep messy, wet ashes from the spot." Under, it all he came across the ibumed remnants of his coat, and then, further away,'his pocket. In the pockety scorched and burned, he: foundhis with the woi%6; jaar(.mwl ifulVof/ashiiiS; jt is true, but there, 'iihd"with"it : tli© locket. Inside the latter- was one of his most treasured possessions, gagement ting' set * with %toiies, "quite; untouched! No Water Pressure. After recovering those, ; from the burn-t in<» -he looked'on the of cloth-; ing and personal : effects and furniture as a little 'less. dug the twisted wiring of a ipiano andthe charred frontispiece stood disconsolate in a setting of blacky while the. only things unaffected iby the night's happening were the - two wireless masts still connected-by the wire. Dissatisfaction with the water, pressure was expressed by the superintendent of the Mount, Eden Fire Brigade, Mr. H. Moore. "Instead of getting a; pressure in the neighbourhood of 1001b from a four-inch tpipe-we-were able to get only 451b to 601b," he said. • Yet this morning when, we imade a test the indicator went round to 801b. .This is not by any. means good enough." The brigade had out two leads with 500 feet of hosing, and the pressure caused the members to feel anxious for the second house." • - < ' • One of the family was away, at the time of the fire and when he arrived Iback, instead of seeing the house m quietness,, he found the rest of the family in various stages of undress. He perhaps, was fortunate, for he alone was fully clad. '. The place is owned by Mr. C. E. Stokes. The furniture is insui'ed tor £300 in tlie London, Liverpoaland_ Globe office, and the building for £650 m the Phoenix office.