SCHOOL SAVED FROM FIRE DESTRUCTION

Press, Volume CI, Issue 29855, 22 June 1962, Page 10

SCHOOL SAVED FROM FIRE DESTRUCTION

(New Zealand Press Association)

NEW PLYMOUTH, June 21. A carpenter’s quick thinking saved the Ararata School from almost certain destruction when fire broke out in one of the classrooms soon after 2 p.m. today. Mr W. Waters was assist-

ing in the construction of an extension to the school block when the alarm was given. He raced into the burning classroom and, barely able to see through the dense smoke, quelled the flames with buckets of sand.

The fire began when a small child tipped off her chair and knocked over a kerosene heater near the wall.

The liquid spilled out and immediately burst into flames. Within seconds the wall was aflame, but the children had all been drilled in fire drill, and within 30 seconds the 41 pupils were out.

The headmaster, Mr C. Hurliman, made a quick roll call to ensure the building was empty, and Mrs Hurliman telephoned the Hawera fire brigade. When the blaze was safely extinguished Mr Waters said: “When I ran into the room the smoke was so thick I could barely see the wall. “I just hurled sand round the room in an effort to smother the flames. The windows were breaking all around me.”

Later another carpenter joined Mr Waters, and others managed to push a garden hose through the corridor window and play water on the flames.