BUILDING GUTTED BY FIRE

Press, Volume LXXXV, Issue 25998, 29 December 1949, Page 4

BUILDING GUTTED BY FIRE

SMITHFIELD WORKS BAG STORE DAMAGE ESTIMATED AT £6OOO From Our Own Reporter TIMARU, December 28. Damage estimated at £6OOO wai done in a fire which gutted the large bag store 7 at the Smithfield freezing works this evening. The fire began about 10.45 p.m. The building wai well ablaze when the Timaru Fire Brigade was called at 10.55 p.m. The flames were rising to a height of 15 to 20 feet in several parts of the roof and could be seen for a number of miles. , , . . The building was used for storing mutton bags. It was two-gabled, single-storeyed, of brick construction, about 35 feet by 50 feet. It was gutted and the contents were destroyed. The brigade arrived about 11.10 p.m. and with the help of the fire-fighting equipment at Smithfield got the fire under control before it could spread to the company’s large oil store adjoining the building. There was a quantity of stacked timber about 15 feet away from the door. The main building is some 40 yards away. The cause of the fire is not known. The fire was first seen by campers. Private Noel Cusack, of the Burnham Fire Brigade, Mr C. Cook, of New Brighton, and Mr B. Jarvis, the company’s fireman, were the first on the scene of the fire. Mr Jarvis’s attention was drawn to the fire by the fusing of the lights throughout the works. There were no automatic fire alarms fitted in the building. No fire was noticed at 10.30 p.m. by the nightwatchman. It was raining at the time of the fire, with a moderate south-easterly wind. The manager of the Smithfield freezing works (Mr R. Spooner) saiU that although a large quantity of mutton bags had been destroyed ’t was not probable that production would be held up, as it was hoped to obtain further supplies of stockinette. The bags are used for wrapping, frozen mutton for export. Some bag stamning machinery in the building was badly damaged. The building and contents were insured for an undisclosed amount.