CITY BLAZE.

Auckland Star, Volume LXIV, Issue 205, 31 August 1933, Page 7

CITY BLAZE.

DAMAGE OVER £25,000. ALBERT STREET FACTORY. BRIGADE'S DIFFICULT TASK. A tangled wreckage of machinery, shafting, roofing iron, and charred timber is all that is left of the workshop portion of the tinsmith factory of Alex. Harvey and Son, Ltd., in Albert Street, which was damaged to the extent of over £25,000 by fire early this morning. The top two floors were completely gutted, and of the ground floor only the office in the Albert Street end of the building and a new section at the rear of the premises escaped the flames, although both portions were damaged by water. When two engines from the Central station and one from the Ponsonby station arrived at 2.45 a.m. the upper part of the building was completely enveloped in flame's, which were also coming through the roof. Several leads were taken from botlPthe front and rear of the premises. The firemen were able to mount to the first floor with the hoses, but were unable to do more than save the two sections mentioned, as the wooden flooring and beams were burning fiercely, and to advance into the middle of the floor was to risk being caught by machinery falling from the upper floors.

' Damage to Machines. s About three dozen machines were ■ damaged or wrecked, and some cannot s be replaced within three or four months. Two-inch steel shafting carrying power pulleys were bent and twisted by the [ heat or the collapse of supports along their length. In several cases machines had crashed through the burnt-out flooring to the floor below, wrecking piles of tin plating and made-up articles, leaving a desolate jumble of stocks ■ charred and ruined. It was considered ■ by one of the members of the firm that ; some of the machines could be used again, although in many cases the metal would have had its temper spoiled. On both the first and second floors spare fittings for tße machinery had been saved from the flames, and the repair shop on the first floor was damaged only by water. Plans to Carry On. "It is impossible to say how much of the stock can be salvaged," said Mr. A. G. Harvey, managing director of the firm. "We shall have to dry it out before an estimate can be made. Lithographed tins are spoiled by the smoke. The insurances on the building, plant, and stock are in the vicinity of £35,000. We are arranging for the erection of the machinery in premises further up the street, which will enable us to carry on to some extent within a few days, and a fortnight should see* us producing as usual. The staff will be absorbed in our Victoria Street factory until the temporary premises are ready." About 100 employees were engaged in the burnt-out works. ' The firm's books were saved with the other contents of the safe in the ground floor office. The ground floor at the rear of the building has only recently been added, and had several expensive new machines installed, which were only slightly damaged water. Damage In Other Buildings. The cellar used by Burns, Philp, Ltd., in the next building/ further down the street was flooded by water, and a small amount of damage was caused to groceries in store there. Nearly 500 panes of glass require replacement in the windows of offices facing the build.ing in Smith's Buildings. It was fortunate for those offices that there is a space of some 24ft between the walls of the two buildings, as they would otherwise have suffered fire and water damage also.

The fire will not affect the manufacture of milk cans, dairy equipment, tin printing, or part of the canister-making departments, as work on those articles is done in the Victoria Street and St. George's Bay Koad factories of the firm. Superintendent A. S. Wilson said he considered that the Are must have been burning for more than half an hour before the alarm came through a call box. Owing to the strong hold of the flames and the risk to the men's lives from_ falling machines, the brigades were handicapped in their attempt to save the building. Hoses were still being played on the ruins at 9.30 this morning. The long extension ladder was also used by the firemen to reach the higher part of the premises.