PAPER BLAZE.

Auckland Star, Volume LXX, Issue 35, 11 February 1939, Page 10

PAPER BLAZE.

WHAKATANE LOSS-

STOCK WORTH £1200.

STEEL ROOF RED HOT. BRIGADE FIGHTS NINE HOURS. (By Telegraph.—Special to "Star.") WHAKATAXE. this day. Que of .the. largest. fires Wliakatane has known swept through the waete paper store of "Wliakatane Paper Mills. Limited, . tliiti morning. destroying 300 tons of stock, valued at aliont £1200. and completely gutting a large section of the concrete .building.

The fire was first noticed shortly after one o'clock by a woman in a neighbouring hotel, who drew the attention of an employee, Mr. C. Anderson, to it. The Wliakatane Five Brigade received the alarm at about 1.30 a.m. and travelled five miles' to the mill, which is outride their area.

The brigade found the building well alight. An iron roof over 3000 square feet was a glowing red mass.

Fortunately the river adjacent to the 'i building provided an unlimited water supply, and the brigade worked tirelessly from two o'clock until eleven, finally controlling the outbreak after a -y. nine-hours' fight. Crowd Watches Fight. Tightly-packed waste paper, stored |>eiuling the commencement of cardboard manufacture next month, provided a problem. Alight from the floor to the roof, its rapid removal was impossible, iij The concrcte walls of the store showed - no sign of the inferno inside, but a steel sliding door was red hot. A crowd of men and women, manv in niglit attire, watched the blaze from points-of vantage.

One wall of the store adjoined a men's recreation room, but the intervening concrete partition prevented the flame: from spreading.

By means of a chain three men raised the glowing sliding door shortly after two o'clock. The resultant draught fanned the flames and' the roof buckled and twisted grotesgufely. A hose was brought into play five minutes later, enabling the firemen to approach immediately within a- few feet of the opening and direct a powerful stream of •water upwards into - the' flaming mas* inside. • ." • _ Tlie roof was then red over Hu»'whole length, the building apparently 'being completely alight inside.' -V"" From the top of a ladder, water was directed on to the glowing irorijamid clouds of steam. Four firemen bii the ladder were subjected to a warm shower, to the crowd's amusement. Door Locked Again. An attempt to lower the sliding door to terminate the up-draught, made difficult as a result of buckled mechanism, eventually succeeded, the managingdirector of the company, Mr. H. A. Horrocks, himself lending a hand, using a heavy length of timber as a lever. Within five minutes the door was red

hot -again. "Between 1.15 and I.3o_o'ctodcsMr. Anderson came to riiy room, arid/itliat * was the first I knew of* the fire,", said Mr./VR, E. Horrocks, son of the' managing director. "I immediately rang the • brigade. I understand the night watchman was then behind' the buildings at the far side of the works. He noticed the outbreak a few minutes later."

Officials of the company stated that the store had been locked for some time, and they could give no indication of the cause of the fire. Mr. Horrocks. junior, expressed the opinion that spontaneous combustion had started it, the building being airless, while the weather was very hot. Mr. Horrocks, senior, stated that the building and its contents were insursd in the 'Norwich Union office for £2000. The building was a portion of an old freezing works. It- measured 70ft by 4oft.