Night Fire Razes Hotel At Bealey

Press, Volume CII, Issue 30091, 27 March 1963, Page 14

Night Fire Razes Hotel At Bealey

The Glacier Hotel at Bealey, seven miles and a half from the Arthur’s Pass township, was destroyed by fire early yesterday. The proprietor and his wife, Mr and Mrs J. L. Gowie, and two other residents lost all their possessions except a few clothes Mr P. Wyllie. a bulldozer driver, was awakened about 1 a m by the crackling of burning wood. The hotel was full of smoke, and he immediately aroused Mr and Mrs Gowie and Mr C. Reardon “If it had not been for Mr Wyllie we might not be here to tell the tale,” Mr Gowie said yesterday. The fire began in the kitchen, and when Mir Gowie opened the door the flames raced through the twostoreyed wooden building. There was not sufficient water to fight the outbreak, and a strong north-west wind was blowing. Mr Gowie has been licensee of the hotel for five years and a half, and bought it in November He said he would be a very heavy loser. “I think it will just about drive mt bankrupt." he said. The total loss has been estimated at £lO,OOO There was £4OO in the safe, and about £2l 10s in the bar tills Mr Gowie was burned about the head, face, and hands, and was treated by the district nurse at Otira. He attempted to fight the fire with extinguishers but it had too great a hold and he was driven back by the intense heat

Mrs Gowie and Mr Wyllie drove to Arthur’s Pass for assistance, the ranger of the Arthur’s Pass National Park Board (Mr P Croft) and Mr C Henderson going to the hotel with knapsack pumps When they arrived the roof had collapsed They sprayed water to prevent the flames from spreading to the outbuildings and the nearby bush In the meantime Mr Gowie had rushed upstairs to the safe, but was unable to find the key to a drawer in the safe containing £4OO in notes

Water was carried in buckets from the Waimakariri

river, but it was not possible to control the fire. The paint on a building across the road, used as a garage and store room, was badly blistered. , The hotel had six bedrooms, including the staff rooms, and the local telephone bureau was in the building The telephone lines were destroyed, and were restored by Post Office linemen late yesterday afternoon The residents of the hotel spent the remainder of the night at Arthur’s Pass Mr Gowie lost everything except a pair of trousers and a shirt A bar was opened in a bach, about 300 yards east of the hotel, at 2.30 pm. yesterday Mr and Mrs Gowie are living in the bach in the meantime. It is understood that there have been five hotels on the site and all of them have been destroyed by fire. When the previous building was burned down the licensee’s son lost his life The hotel destroyed yesterday was built by the Bealey Development Company about 1940. There are no plans at present to rebuild the hotel.