DISASTROUS FIRE

Press, Volume LXIX, Issue 20988, 17 October 1933, Page 8

DISASTROUS FIRE

I CONFECTIONERY WORKS ; GUTTED J : VALUABLE MACHINERY DESTROYED j ! A fire of unknown origin destroyed a large part of the plant and premises of the Chivers Confectionery Company, Ltd., at 246 St. Asaph street, between 6 o'clock and 6.30 last evening. Some of the machinery cannot be replaced in ! New Zealand, and until new plant iis imported many of the 28 emj ployees of the firm are likely to be out of work. The building, which i is owned by the estate of Elizabeth j White, is insured with the Norwich j Union Insurance Society, and the ! stock and plant for £2OOO with the Mercantile and General Insurance Company, Ltd. j The rear wooden upper storey of ! the building was completely gutted, I that part of the roof which was not j burnt having to be removed by the firemen. The main dama'ge, howi ! ever, was to the plant, the chief j items being one machine worth £SOO and another worth £l5O. The full ! extent of the damage cannot be known until this morning. Nobody was in the building when the fire broke out, and everything appeared to be normal when, "the last employee left at 5.30 p.m. The alarm was given at (5.11 p.m. by a passer-by who saw the blaze in the back premises through a right-of-way. The flames at one. stage flared up to a considerable height, and the ! fire could be seen from the Cashj mere Hills. Ilapid Spread of Flames. The Central Fire Brigade received the call at G.ll and on arrival found the chocolate and boiler rooms at the rear of the building, where the fire started, a mass of flames. Two leads of hose were run out and the fire was attacked from the front and rear. The rooms were old and of wood and stocked with highly inflammable contents, and the flames spread rapidly to the drying room. i These three departments were comI pletely gutted, the chocolate room I being roofless, and the machinery in I it a twisted mass.

The brigade had the fire well under control by 6.30, but the heat of the flames scorched the ceiling of the starch room, three storeys high at the front of the building, and broke all the windows. Sweets left on a bench ready for packing in the morning were reduced to a sticky mass, and plaster-of-paris moulds left hanging on a wall were melted and scattered over the floor and stairway. Nature of Damage. A 1 though most of the fittings in the paste room, which is also on the third floor near the front of the building, were more or less badly damaged by smoke and heat, a wrapping machine valued at £SOO was not damaged. A coverture machine valued at more than £SOO was completely destroyed and a starch machine which cannot be replaced in New Zealand was also lost. A new icing sugar mould costing £l5O had recently been installed and this was ruined. The old one is still available, however, and will probably be rccommissioned. The from part of the building, three storeys high, is of brick faced with cement. Further back it drops to two storeys, and finally to one, only the ground floor being of brick. The wooden structure of the upper floor of the two-storey portion suffered most damage. The fire was completely out by 8 p.m., when the brigade's engine was able to return to the Central Fire Station.

DAMAGE AT AUCKLAND

THIKI) FLOOR OF HLILDING fJUTTEI) d'l.iSS A.-MItIATiOX 'IEI.KUiUM.AUCKLAND, October 16. A fire in the city late to-night gutted the third floor of a fivestorey brick building at the corner of Albert and Durham streets, occupied by Rcid and Twiname, manufacturers and importers, and S. A. Smith and Co., Ltd., manufacturers' agents. An explosion on the third floor preceded the flames, blowing out the corner windows. The brigade was just cheeking this outbreak when another occurred elsewhere on the same floor. The fire was got under control just before midnight.