HOUSE DAMAGED BY FIRE

Press, Volume XC, Issue 27442, 31 August 1954, Page 9

HOUSE DAMAGED BY FIRE

GOOD SAVE MADE BY BRIGADE Extensive damage in the roof of a house of .22 rooms on the corner of Bealey avenue and Durham street was done by a fire which brdke out in part of the upstairs portion of the house about 5 o’clock yesterday afternoon. Rooms below the roof which was burned were also extensively damaged by water, although tarpaulins supplied by the fire brigade did much to limit the damage. The house is divided into several flats, and the occupant of one of these, Mr A. H. F. Huisman, saw the flames along the lower portion of a room occupied by Mrs P. Barriball, who is away from Christchurch at present. He gave the alarm. By the time the brigade arrived the fire had.a good hold on the roof, bfit within minutes of its arrival the brigade a lead of hose on to the fire. A considerable portion of the roof was affected, but firemen were aided in getting to the seat of the flames by the slate roof. The small slates were easily removed. Mrs Barriball’s room was the worst affected by fire, smoke, and water. Furniture in the room was in some instances charred a bedspread was ruined by sparks from the rdof. For the most part, howfever. damage was confined to water and smoke. A large prowd gathered in the streets outside and some congestion occurred until a traffic officer of the Christchurch City Council appeared. He was later called upon fo chase a motorist who, unheedful of the hose across the streets, drove straight on and broke the connexions