INCENDIARY AT WORK?

Press, Volume LXV, Issue 19669, 12 July 1929, Page 10

INCENDIARY AT WORK?

GARAGE FIRED AGAIN.

PETROL STORE ABLAZE. BRIGADE MAKES BEMABKABLK SAVE. An inceadiarist is evidently at work in the City, intent upon destroy jig the large garage of Mr K. C. Dobson, in Hereford street, Again last evening aa attampt was made to fire it. On Toeaday night three zaotor-caxß were destroyedThis Wmf the petrol store wm set afire. only the prompt arrival of the Brigade saved th. building from destxaction. At 5.40 p.m.. precisely the same time as the alarm was given on Tuesday, a cyclist on his way down Hereford street saw flames bursting from the garage in a right-of-way. He at once called the brigade, who wers at the scene within a few minutes.

It was the same building to which they were called on Tuesday, and this time a far more formidable task awaited them. A fierce burst of As me and thick black smoke met them when they puiled open the door of the store-room. The contents consisted of stocks of pttrol and kerosene, and the latter was lieu-ely ablaze. Chemicals were poured on the flames, which fortunately had not bad time to obtain a very strong hold. In a few minutes the outbreak was under control. The great risk was that the inflammable oil wouli suddenly fire with an explosive burst. The store is a small one, only twelve feet by ten, built of brick and iron. Full of petrol and kerosene aa it was, it is fortunate that the flames did not cause a heavy explosion. On their arrival last evening the firemen found that the door_ of the storeroom had been opened with a key. A very strong padlock fastens the steel door, and this bad not " been forced. The lock might have been pifked, but this would take some considerable time, and the detectives found nobody last evening who had seen loiterers in the vicinity. Apparently the person responsible possesses a key and intimate knowledge of the premises. It was at first thought that the fire on Tuesday might have been the work of irresponsible youths, or boys best on mischief. But last night's destructive work discounts that explanation. There is also other evidence. It seems that on Tuesday, shortly 8 p.m., a voung woman passed Hereford Plaee and caught sight i- ' an furtively entering the garage. Bei.oving it to be somebody connected with the premises, she thought no more of the incident until she r<Mtd the account of the fire in Wednesday s Passi. Her story has been told to the detectivea, who are now making enquiries. The eall to the Fire Brigade was made exactly three seconds after the time of Tuesday's calL And on Tuesday, five minutes after the main call, a false alarm was received from a box in Armagh street. Last evenuuf pre* eiselv the same thing happened, and from the same box. It is regarded as an attempt to get the fire-engines out of the way. The police aro anxious to discover the person who gave the alarm cn Tuesday, for it is thought that he might shed come light on the matter. The cyclist who discovered the firs last evening saw no suspicious person. To the detectives be said that be saw a sheet of flame burst from the door, and without waiting or looking for a sign of anybody, he rush eel to the alarm box in Manchester street, and called the Brigade. The garage itself was not badly damaged, as the brick's ond steel frame of the storeroom confined the fluui to a small area. But this very confinement would have been the cause o f tremendous damage (by explosion) had the firemen not reached the scene so quickly after the outbreak.