Fire Guts Dormitory Wing At Air Station

Press, Volume XCIX, Issue 29245, 1 July 1960, Page 10

Fire Guts Dormitory Wing At Air Station

Fire swept through one wing of a wooden dormitory block and damaged two other wings, at the R.N.Z.A.F. Station, Wigram, early last evening. Accommodation for about 25 men was destroyed. The cause of the fire was not known late last evening. The extent of the damage could not be ascertained. It is thought that 10 or 15 trainees lost their belongings. An Air Force inquiry into the fire will be opened today.

The alarm was given at 6.42 p.m. by an occupant of the dormitory, who pressed an alarm bell. The fire was attended by two units of the Christchurch Central Fire Brigade, one from the Sockburn station, and several tenders from the Wigram fire section. The damaged dormitory, known as No. 11 block, is on the south end of the station. There are three narrow wings, each containing about 20 small rooms. The wings are parallel and joined in the middle by corridors. The middle wing, where the fire started was completely gutted. “It seemed to explode,” said an eye witness. “The whole wing was ablaze minutes after the alarm had been given.” By the time fire-fighting equipment arrived, the blaze had spread down the adjoining cor-

ridors and into the centres of the two outside wings, damaging several rooms.

Apparently only a few of the 50 or 60 occupants of the block were in their rooms when the fire broke out. Those on the outside wings were able to remove most of their belongings. Other sleeping quarters had to be arranged for them last evening. The Chief Fire Officer of the Christchurch Fire Board, Mr L. R. Osmond, who was in charge of the fire-fighting, said the whole block was built of highly combustible material, and once the fire got away it just “swept through.” Group Captain S. G. Quill, the commanding officer of the station was in Timaru when the blaze broke out. He was not expected back until late last evening. This was the air station's second dormitory fire in three years. On May 8, 1958, fire badly damaged a two-storey block. This is now being pulled down.