HOME ON FIRE.

Auckland Star, Volume LXIV, Issue 136, 12 June 1933, Page 9

HOME ON FIRE.

TERRIFIED FAMILY.

VIOLENT ELECTRIC STORM

NIGHT OF TERROR DESCRIBED Tlic terrifying experiences through wliicb Mr. and Mrs. Charles Watson and their daughter passed when their home, on the outskirts of Christehureh, was struck by lightning one night last week, is further emphasised by details to hand by mail. The home, a three-roomed cottage, stands well back from the road in exposed country, near the boundary of Dullington and Uurwood. The family was in bed, when, at 10 o'clock, the full fury of the storm broke. The house was struck by lightning and set on lire. A terrific explosion was heard all over the neighbourhood as the flush smote the house. The windows in the two front rooms of the house were blown out. the electric meter was damaged, and the bed in which Mrs. Watson and her daughter were sleeping was tossed up into the air, throwing them out. The kapok bolster under their heads was set alight, and the house rocked. Outside the air seemed to be ablaze with blue 11a me. "The lightning flashed along the power-lines like swift arrows of fire," was the description given by a youth who was passing at the time. "There was a terrific explosion, and then, all in a second, the whole country round about seemed to be ablaze with bluish llanie. Mr. Watson's house was right in the ccntrc of it. There was a loud explosion as the house was struck. It is a wonder it did not go up in smoke. I never expected to sec it again." Tho members of the family were too terrified to return to their beds when the storm showed signs of abating, and lit a fire in the grate in the living room, resolving to stay up for the rest of the night. A few minutes later they were startled by a flame which burst from the comer of the wall of tho living room. Tho menace of fire now confronted them. Throwing an overcoat

over her night attire, Miss Watson rushed out into the driving hail and the ! southerly gale to bring assistance. Her cries were answered by the electricity staff of tho Waimairi County Council, who were repairing damage tliatf had been done to the sub-station in Mcßratnev's Road. The men lost no tinje in getting to the cottage, and they were in time to attack the fire before it had firmly established itself. "We arc all very thankful that we are alive," Mrs. Watson said, in recounting her experiences. "We thought that the end of the world had come, and we were terrified. Some miracle must have saved us from being killed." Complaints made by residents of Bur. wood that the lights had failed brought Mr. Burrowes and his staff to the scene. They were making investigations at the sub-station In Mcßratney's Road when they heard Miss Watson's cries for help. "It was pathetic to sec the girl struggling through that storm," said Mr. Burrowes. "Mud, hail, thunder and wind were all against her. Fortunately the fire had not established a strong hold. From what I have heard I cannot understand yet why the house did not disappear. It is a miracle that it survived."