HOME BURNED

Press, Volume XC, Issue 27405, 19 July 1954, Page 2

HOME BURNED

SIX OCCUPANTS ESCAPE IN NIGHT ATTIRE (New Zealand Press Association) WELLINGTON, July 17. Two families narrowly escaped death when a home at Makara Beach was burned to the ground in a raging gale last night. A house next door caught fire and was slightly burned before the blaze was put out by residents. The owner of the destroyed house, Mr S. R. Hyde, and Mr and Mrs J. Jones and their three children, were all asleep when the fire started just before midnight. They all left the premises in their night clothes. All Mr Hyde’s personal belongings were lost, and Mr and Mrs Jones salvaged only a little clothing. A short circuit in the wiring system is thought to have caused the fire. In heavy rain and a freezing gale, 30 residents fought the Are. A Ducket brigade was organised and the home of the neighbour, Mr J. Baker, was saved.

Some residents fought the blaze while others removed Mr Baker’s furniture. Two men threw water from the roof of Mr Baker’s house, though they were scorched by heat from the burning house next door. As Makara Beach has no piped water supply, all the water had to be taken from two big water-holes near the houses.