JUST IN TIME.

Auckland Star, Volume LXVI, Issue 261, 4 November 1935, Page 9

JUST IN TIME.

RESCUE OF CHILDREN. EARLY-MORNING FIRE. ST. HELIER'S BAY HOUSE BURNED. Four young children were rescued by their father only a few minutes before their home at 12, Long Drive, St. Helier's Bay, was swept by flames and almost completely destroyed early yesterday morning. The occupier, Mr. R. H. Hammond, was awakened by his wife, and only had time to get out of bed and save his family, leaving valuables and furniture behind. "A minute or two later and it would have been too late," Mr. Hammond said yesterday. Things had happened so quickly that he was a little hazy about everything. "My first thought was for the children," he said. "They were sleeping in a front room opposite my bedroom, and how I got them out I do not know. The flames were very near and the roof was a roaring blaze."

The fire had a strong hold by the time brigades arrived from the Tamaki and Remuera stations, aM it took 20 minutes to get the flames under control. The house, which was of seven rooms and one of the oldest in the district, was almost a complct loss.

How the outbreak began is not definitely known, but the fire seemed to bystanders to have started in the sitting room. The alarm was given after three o'clock by telephone, and then by alarm box by a resident of St. Helier's, who could hear the screams of the children in the still night. "It must have been very close," said a member of the Tamaki brigade this morning in reference to the rescue of the children. The house was insured for £60C in the North British office and the contents for £200 in the Yorkshire office. LITTLE DAMAGE DONE. RICHMOND ROAD OUTBREAK. Brigades from the Central and Western Districts stations answered a call to a house at 13, Richmond Road, Grey Lynn, at 10.28 yesterday morning. The mirror and door of a wardrobe and two cushions were damaged, but the outbreak was quickly put out with the first aid equipment. The house is owned and occupied by Mrs. M. O'Sullivan, and is insured in the State office. GORSE FIRE AT PARNELL. A grass and goise fire in St. George's Bay Road, Parnell, was beaten out by members of the Central and Parneil brigades on Saturday afternoon. No houses were endangered by the flames.