FIRE IN TIMBER YARD

Bay of Plenty Times, Volume LXXVII, Issue 15057, 18 August 1949, Page 2

FIRE IN TIMBER YARD

PROMPT ACTION BY TAURANGA BRIGADE TWO EMPLOYEES RECEIVE MINOR BURNS ' The Tauranga Volunteer Fire Brigade was called out to attend a fire in the timber yard of the Smith Harvey Construction Company in Cliff Road at 12.20 yesterday. Apparently waste timber was being burned in the yard under the supervision of an employee, when a sudden change in the wind carried the flames to a further large pile of firewood and another stack of lengths of firewood also caught alight. The dry state of ihe wood contributed to a rapid spread of the flames which quickly gained a hold of the timber.

The employee who was watching the fire at the time was assisted by a carpenter working on a building in the yard in hit; endeavours to stop the spread of the lire and the brigade was called by the foreman. Both men received minor burns to the face and arms. Within two or three minutes, hoses from the water hydrant opposite the railway station were being played on the blaze and the fire was quickly got under control.

To completely extinguish ihe fire, however, stacks of cut firewood had to be partly demolished to enable the water to be played on the seat of the fire.

The prompt answer to the call by the brigade possiblv savftd more serious developments as the stacks of sawn firewood extended along the fenccline to within a yard or two of an adjoining railway house which might well have been threatened. Had the hedge immediately behind the timber caught alight, the spread of the blaze would probably have been considerable.