FIRE DAMAGES HOSPITAL

Press, Volume LXXXVII, Issue 26516, 3 September 1951, Page 2

FIRE DAMAGES HOSPITAL

LABORATORY BLOCK

AT MIDDLEMORE LOSS PUT AT THOUSANDS OF POUNDS (New Zealand Press Association) AUCKLAND, September 1. Swept by fire that began at 4.30 a.m. to-day, the laboratory block of the Middlemore Public Hospital was damaged to the extent of thousands of pounds. The hospital, near Otahuhu, ;s one of the best-equipped sectional hospitals of its type in the Dominion. The alarm was received simultaneously at the Auckland Fire Brigade headquarters and the Otahuhu fire station. Crews in two machines raced from Otahuhu and one from Ellerslie to find flames bursting through the roof of the laboratory wing at the southern end of the hospital. They sent out radio calls for more machines. Thirty firemen under the Auckland Superintendent (Mr G. A. McKenzie) set to work with four leads to isolate the outbreak. Under a rain of falling tiles they put one hose through a window near the seat of the fire and broke down a door to bridge a gaping hole that had been burned in the upper floor. This gave them access to where the fire seemed to have started near the staff room.

Firemen bringing other leads upstairs and down the hospital corridor had the tire under control in about five minutes, and then steadily moved in towards its centre. Two hours passed, however, before the outbreak was mastered. The fire had been cut off as it was about to break into the physiotherapy section on the upper floor. This section was undamaged, and vital medical and other records were saved. A remarkable feature was that 270 patients apparently slept through it all, unaware that there had been a fire until daybreak. At the height of the fire a burst pipe deluged the administrative block, and some time passed before firemen could cut it off. Though only a few charred beams remain of the roof in that section, the brigade made a remarkable save of the administrative block below.

The laboratory serves the Middlemore Public Hospital and also services other Auckland hospitals. A new laboratory outfit will be operating by Monday. Technicians to-day were salvaging and testing equipment, including several microscopes costing £250 each, and other valuable appliances. An expensive welding plant was extensively damaged. Dr. H. J. Colvin, Medical Superintendent at Middlemore, said to-day that it was impossible yet to estimate accurately the damage. He added that temporary plans had been made to do laboratory work in another hospital until the damaged block was rebuilt. He praised members of the hospital staff for the quiet and efficient way in which they went to their stations when the alarm sounded. Though the roof of the laboratory wing was practically burnt out and the interior of the upper block gutted, there is not much structural damage to the walls of this two-storeyed section, and except for water, the lower floor is in fairly good condition. Patients and staff this morning cast their election votes at the hospital polling booth.