FLAMES STOP FIRE CALL

Press, Volume CII, Issue 30125, 8 May 1963, Page 14

FLAMES STOP FIRE CALL

Man Driven From ’Phone (N.Z. Press Association) HASTINGS, May 7. Flames roaring through a small cottage on an .orchard near Hastings tonight drove the owner, Mr H. Wuts, from the telephone just after he had dialled the emergency number. The woman telephone operator in the Hastings exchange recognised only one word, “pakowhai.” She directed the Hastings Fire Brigade to the Pakowhai district about five miles from the city and when the first engine reached the area there was no doubt where the fire was. Flames were leaping from a packing shed 40ft by 20ft. from the cottage nearby, and the covered-way connecting them As the brigade arrived the roof of the shed collapsed. A ti .ctor, fork-lift vehicle and all Mr Wuts’s grading and packing equipment were in the shed. Before the roof collapsed Mr Wuts saved his car and truck. The heat and flames prevented any further salvage. One fire engine with a 1000gallon tanker fought the fire, and when water in the tanker was exhausted water was pumped from a well. No indication of how the fire started nor an estimate of the damage was available tonight