MINOR FIRES

Press, Volume LXXXIX, Issue 27213, 3 December 1953, Page 9

MINOR FIRES

EIGHT CALLS YESTERDAY Eight minor fires occurred in Christchurch yesterday. Two were fires in houses, two grass fires, one a rubbish fire, two in commercial premises, and one in an office of the Totalisator Agency Board. The first call was at 11.36 a.m. to a rubbish fire at a house at 43 Whitmore street, occupied by Mr Henry Crowther. The fire spread to a picket fence, 10ft of which was destroyed. One unit from the St. Albans Fire Station and one from the Central Fire Station attended. Slight damage to a bedroom and its contents was caused by a fire at a house at 82 Wairarapa terrace, occupied by Mrs P. A. Thomson. Units from St. Albans and headquarters answered the call at noon. The exterior walls, the roof, and the interior of one room were damaged by a fire at a house at 390 Selwyn street, occupied by Miss J. H. Hills. The call, given at 2 p.m., was attended by one unit of the central brigade and one from Sydenham. A quarter of an hour later two units from headquarters attended a grass fire at a house at 196 Strickland street. There was no damage to the property, which is occupied by Mrs J. Cunningham. A grass fire at the railway crossing in Barnes’s road, off the Main North road, about 2.43 p.m., was put out by the St. Albans fire brigade before any damage was caused. A cigarette butt thrown from an upper window is thought to have caused scrim to catch fire on the veranda of Stewart Dawson and Company’s shop at 222 High street. Four units from headquarters answered this call, which was given at 3.10 p.m. No damage was done. A small fire in a hopper conveying sawdust at New Zealand _ Plywoods (South Island), Ltd., Mandeville street, Riccarton, caused no damage. It was attended by units from St. Albans and the central station in answer to a call at 5.49 p.m. A small fire on the veranda of the Totalisator Agency Board’s office in Seaview road, New Brighton, caused very slight damage before it was put out by units from the New Brighton and central fire stations. The call was received at 9.20 p.m.