FIRE RAZES HOTEL

Press, Volume CII, Issue 30042, 29 January 1963, Page 14

FIRE RAZES HOTEL

Waiheke Island Blaze

(N.Z. Press Association)

AUCKLAND, Jan. 28.

Thirty-six persons escaped uninjured when the recentlyrenovated Spray’s Edge Lodge private hotel, at Onetangi, Waiheke Island, was burnt to the ground early today. As they waited patiently on the beach later to return to Auckland, by boat and plane, they praised the help given them by “all these wonderful people of Onetangi.” The 40-year-old building had just been modernised into the “show place of the Hauraki Gulf" at a cost of £BOOO by the co-owners Mr M. Sims and Mr D. O’Connor. They lost all their personal belongings in the fire. The hotel was booked out for February. Twenty-three new guests were expected today. The alarm was sounded by Mr Sims’s alsatian dog, Goldie, who gave his owner “a thump” ait 12.30 a.m. Mr Sims said he ran from his room to find the hall ablaze from end to end. He rang the warning gong as deputy chief officer of the volunteer fire brigade, Mr H Foster, switched on the siren ait his home two houses away Within three minutes the hotel had been cleared. Most guests managed to scoop up all their belongings as they raced out in their night attire. “There was no panic at all —everyone was marvellous,” said Mr '"ms.