MILL ABLAZE.

Auckland Star, Volume LXVIII, Issue 236, 5 October 1937, Page 9

MILL ABLAZE.

"SAVE ME, SAVE ME. ,,

BOY TRAPPED BY FLAMES.

PAINTER'S GALLANT RESCUE.

SYDNEY, October 1

A boy who had been trapped by flames was rescued, two firemen received burns, and thousands of pounds weight of cotton and much valuable machinery were destroyed, when the store and the blow-roome of the Stirling Henry, Ltd., spinning and knitting cotton mills in The Crescent, Flemington, were swept by fire. The fire started in the blow-room, into which cotton is conveyed from the store for cleaning before it is transferred to the spinning and knitting mills. The cause is not known. In the blow-room, where new machinery worth more than £4000 was installed, Frank Meara was feeding a blow machine from a stack of more than 10001b of cotton. In the room were his brother, Joseph Meara (foreman), J. Preston, and H. Moore, all of whom were attending to other machines.

Without warning, the flames shot up from the heap of cotton being fed to F. Meara's machine, and he called to the others in the room. The fire hose was run out and water was played on the flames, but the blaze among the cotton spread with a series of explosions, and in a few minutes the blow-room was an inferno. Wind Spreads Fin. The four men were forced out by the terrific heat and smoke, and, assisted by the strong north-westerly wind, the flames soon enveloped the blow-room and the main store, where bales of raw cotton from Queensland had been stored for treatment and manufacture into articles of clothing.

A minute before the fire started, David Bush, aged 14, of Merrylande, had been sent on an errand to the loft over the main store where waste and machinery parts were kept. Above the roar of the flames, J. Tattersall, a painter, heard the boy's cries for help.

The stairs, were blazing fiercely and smoke and flames were billowing about the buildings, but through the smoke and sparks Tattersall eaw the boy framed in the door of the loft and silhouetted against the flames as they burst through the ceiling from the burning cotton.

Call for Help. "Save me, save me," the boy screamed. Tattersall climbed up towards the loft door, and the boy fell into his arme as both were enveloped in smoke. '"I've lost my fttreet clothes and my lunch," said Bush as he was led to safetv.

In the blow-room were about 10,0001b of cotton, and the storeroom was stacked almost full with raw cotton. This highly inflammable material made the flames roar hundreds of feet upwards, while the high wind carried clotide of smoke and sparke over the other mill buildings. The blow-room adjoined the spinning room, where 90 girls were working, and for a time it seemed that nothing could save the spinning mill, where machinery worth thousands of pounds is installed.

Sixty firemen under Third Officer Tuck, from headquarters, with engines and gear from eleven stations in the city and suburbs, concentrated their efforts to prevent the fire extending to the spinning mill, while employees, played water from the mill hydrants on to the building.

At first barely a trickle was available from the many hoses, but lines of hose were run back to the street, and the water pressure improved.

Firemen Hurt. Fireman L. Mayhew, of Auburn, was standing on the roof of the spinning mill directing a hydrant into the heart of the fire when gases blew out a ekylight on the roof of the blow-room. The explosion was terrific, and Mayhew was momentarily enveloped in flames.

"Had I not instinctively closed my eyes I would have been blinded," he said.

He was hurled from the roof with his face and hands badly scorched, but after first aid treatment from other firemen he returned to assist.

Fireman J. E. Smith, of Lidcombe, wae working on the ground when the roofs of the store and blow-room fell in. Ked hot galvanised iron and blazing wood were scattered in every direction. A large piece of blazing timber fell on Smith. His shirt was set alight and he received burns about the chest and neck.

It was stated that about 500 bales of raw cotton had been burned in the main store, but the lose caused by the fire could not be estimated. The stocks, plant and buildings were covered by insurance.