FIRE DAMAGES HOUSE

Press, Volume LXXXVIII, Issue 26869, 23 October 1952, Page 11

FIRE DAMAGES HOUSE

CHILD RESCUED BY MOTHER Fire seriously damaged a State house at Ashburton yesterday. Three rooms were gutted and other rooms were damaged by smoke and water. The house was situated at 39 Racecourse road and occupied by Mr W. Lynn. Two units from the Ashburton Volunteer Fire Brigade answered a call at 2 p.m., and 45 minutes later the fire was out.

The outbreak was apparently caused by burning fragments from a copper fire setting alight the floor in the washhouse while Mrs Lynn was out. The fire spread rapidly to the hardboard lining of the room, and had a good hold when Mrs Lynn was told of it by a child playing nearby. She rushed into the house and brought out a young child, who had been sleeping there. After taking the child to safety, Mrs Lynn returned to the house to shut doors to contain the outbreak, but she was driven back by fierce flames. The intense heat shattered tiles on the roof of the house. Fragments of tiles were later found on the other side a neighbouring house more than 70 feet away.

.AJbout one minute after the first alarm was given the fire brigade received a second call. The fire had been noticed by faultmen of the Ashburton Electric Power Board, who had been working in the neighbourhood. They sent messages by radio from their truck to the power board office, which relayed the alarm to the brigade.