BIG WHARF BLAZE.

Auckland Star, Volume LXVI, Issue 229, 27 September 1935, Page 7

BIG WHARF BLAZE.

Spectacle for Hundreds of Londoners. BURNING RUBBER ON RIVER. (Received 2 p.m.) ■ LONDON, September 20. The blaze on the Colonial wharf, Wapping, last evening-—London's most spectacular fire for many .years —raged for 12 hours and completely destroyed a seven-storey warehouse building, with stores of rubber, tea and spirits valued at £1,000,000. ' Flames from burning rubber shot 100 feet into, the air, bathing the city and the river in a great red glow. Within five hours the entire building was a roaring furnace. There was a terrifying scene when the great river-side wall crashed. The firemen scrambled to safety just in time, but blazing debris fell on four barges and destroyed them. Streams of molten rubber ran down the streets and blocked the drains, and a film of burning rubber spread over the Thames. Twenty-four hours after the outbreak, firemen are still at work seeking to subdue the flames, which, although under control, continue to burn fiercely through the lower floors with occasional explosions. River floats continue their work from the back of the burning building, and firemen are perched precariously on cranes on adjacent wharfs. UNDERWRITERS HIT.

INSURANCE MAY BE £1,000,000. (Received 11.30 a.m.) LONDON, September 26. The Sydney wool fire cost London underwriters at least £250,000. A contract for this amount was placed here, as well as reinsurances by Australian and New Zealand companies in London. The total claims from this and the Wapjiing fire are expected to reach i £1,000,000.