DESCRIPTION OF FIRST FLAME

Press, Volume LXXXIV, Issue 25445, 17 March 1948, Page 6

DESCRIPTION OF FIRST FLAME

Junior Station Officer T. G. Oakman, further examined by Mr G. G. G. Watson (for the Crown) said a l£in nozzle was used on the lead placed first into Congreve’s building. Fireman Barson assisted him. The bottom of the middle window was open. He was certain he put the lead in through it and he disagreed with earlier witnesses who said the window was closed. A minute and a half to two minutes later, he saw flame. He would disagree with witnesses who said the putting in of water and the flames were simultaneous. The flames appeared to come ouj of the floor in the middle cf the back of the building. The flame was a pillar which appeared to bypass the ground floor and went up to the floor above. The pillar was three or four feet square and shot up vertically. When the flames came into contact with the water, they shot round the back of Goodman’s building into the first floor and also burst back round the south-western corner of the first floor of Congreve’s building. The flames then appeared to spread with extraordinary rapidity everywhere—“l never saw anything like it”—and in four or five minutes the Colombo street frontage was mass of flames; the flames were not so severe on the ground floor as on the upper floors. Orders for other leads were given by Mr Burrows and Mr Stevenson. It was not the duty of an officer physically to handle a lead if men were available. Firemen Tripp and Stockwell were on the salvage van and as they did not come back he presumed they had been given other instructions by Mr Burrows. He was on the lead for 20 or 15 minutes, after which he fixed other leads in Colombo street. He did. not see Officer Stevenson or Burrows while he was on the lead. The chairman (Sir Harold Johnston, K.C.): He must have seen Burrows when he went and told Barson to put the brigade call in. Mr Watson: Had you realised you were the only officer in the street, would you have remained for quarter of an hour or 20 minutes on the lead? —I was quite satisfied t v at Mr Burrows was looking after o. er leads. While he was on the lead, he was not aware that some girls were trap-

ped in Goodman’s * building, witness continued. He saw girls at the window at no time. He saw girls at the windows of the top floor of Pratt’s building. People were screaming and yelling on the street but he could not see anything of the girls, who later perished in Goodman’s building, because he was close under the veranda. No civilian or police drew his attention ,to the girls. He did not hear the ladder passing down Colombo street, because of the noise and tl)e crackling of water on the fire. He saw nothing of the incident of firemen trying to reach the top of Goodman’s building by a ladder. Reasons for Not Seeing Mr Watson: That must have taken place, 'at the outside, 50ft from where you were standing?—! did not see it. Can you suggest any reason why you did not see it?—l may been nearly in under the veranda with the lead. A photograph was produced and Mr Watson suggested that the most southern lead must have been directed from somewhere about the middle of the road. Witness said that would not be the commonsense place from which to direct a lead. By getting closer to the building, a more vertical angle would be obtained. He would just clear the veranda—no more. Mr Watson: Was there anything to prevent you seeing the girls in Goodman’s building?—The smoke was very thick. That-i S-not the reason you gave a few minutes ago?—lt is the only reason. There is also the fact I was very busy on the delivery. < The incessant screaming of people in the street attracted his attention to the girls in Pratt’s building. The smoke was thick but intermittent. The heat had driven him out into the middle of the road, and he could see the figures on the sill. He saw firemen on the veranda and continued to operate his lead. At least one person on the veranda was wearing a fireman’s uniform; others were civilians. When Mr Kenneth Ballantyne appeared on the ledge, he operated one of the two leads from Colombo street on him; two other leads were playing from Cashel street. He had only an intermittent view of the rescue. The rest of his activities were fire-fighting at Reece’s building.