CHILD DIES IN FIRE

Press, Volume XC, Issue 27274, 15 February 1954, Page 8

CHILD DIES IN FIRE

Another Seriously Burned EVENING BLAZE IN PAPANUI Martin Wayne Brophy, aged three years 11 months, perished in a fire which swept through the two-storey wooden home of his parents, Mr and Mrs Eric Gregory Brophy, of 10 Wilmot street, Papanui, late on Saturday evening. His brothers, Gregory, aged two, and David, aged five, were rescued from the building with .seconds to spare. The police say the three children were alone in the house for about an hour before the fire started. According to eye witnesses the fire broke out in a bedroom, occupied by the two younger children, on the west side of the upper floor. Blinds and curtains were seen being swallowed in flames. The fire reached the roof, and then spread swiftly down the length of the building. Residents in the area were quickly roused by the glare.

Within minutes of the first alarm being given at 10.5’p.m., two fire brigade unite, an ambulance, and police cars, their sirens screaming, arrived at the fire, the glare of which could be seen from Papanui road, about half a mile away. Only the courageous efforts of a resident and a fireman saved the lives of Gregory and David. Mr Robert Dasler, who lives opposite the Brophy home, rushed across the street while the fire was still confined to the western bedroom. He dashed up the stairs, and after groping in the smoke-filled, roasting room, bundled the two-year-old child up in his arms, and gave him to helpers. He attempted to go back into the room, but was forced back by heat and smoke.

A fireman attached to the St. Albans unit tried to reach the bedrooms up the stairs. He could get no further than a few steps. He immediately ran to the side of the house and climbed a ladder that had just been hoisted The fireman smashed the window and disappeared inside. Seconds later he handed David to a fireman waiting at the top of the ladder. Boys’ Condition Improves The two boys were immediately rushed to hospital by ■ ambulance. Gregory was taken to the Eurwood Public Hospital, where he was placed on the seriously ill list. His condition is improving, according to a report from the hospital last evening. David, only slightly injured, was examined at the Christchurch Public Hospital and discharged. Mr David Morris, who lives about 100 yards from the Brophy home, said he saw the fire blazing about a window. He cycled to the nearest telephone box in Sails street, and on the way asked a motorist to sound the automatic alarm. By the time he returned the first fire brigade had arrived. He said fhat the firemen had difficulty in removing a hydrant cap directly opposite his house. By the time the high-pres-sure water was being played on the house the upper floor was blazing from end to end.

Mr Morris, and dozens of other neighbours, rushed to the fire to assist. Those close to the Brophy home used their garden hoses to confine the blaze. Others brought spades. Some tried to rescue the children from a step ladder placed against the high wall, but the windows were 9ft above the top of the ladder.

Several persons said they had never seen a house burn so quickly and fiercely. Tar burst from the blazing roof and burned on the ground and on the lower walls of the house. A wide patch of grass on the southern side of the building was blackened. The Brophy family had been in the house, which is owned by the State Advances Corporation, for a few months. A girl of 13 was looking after the children, but according to the police she left the house about an hour before the fire broke out. Mr Brophy left the house at 4 p.m. on Saturday and Mrs Brophy at 7.30 p.m. Neither knew of the fire until 11 p.m.