BADLY BURNED IN FACTORY FIRE

Press, Volume CIV, Issue 30678, 18 February 1965, Page 7

BADLY BURNED IN FACTORY FIRE

(N.Z. Press Association) DUNEDIN, Feb. 17. ’ Frank Pratt, a married man ' with five children, was badly > burned yesterday morning in a ; fire which gutted a small fire- ! proof room in the High street air mattress factory of the , National Mortgage and ■ Agency Company, Ltd. The foreman at the factory, ’ Mr W. R. McVie, said that as . Mr Pratt opened the door to [ the fireproof room a mixing ! machine seemed to “blow up in his face.” The room was used to mix , a paste used in the manufacI ture of rubber mattresses, Mr McVie said. i Clear petrol and another 1 type of highly-inflammable spirit was used in the mixing process. Mr Pratt, who was badly burned on his face and right hand, was immediately tended 1 by a trained nurse working in the factory. Miss L. Hol-

lands, and was then taken by ambulance to Wakari Hospi--1 tai. , The store of spirits in the t mixing room burnt fiercely. When the Fire Brigade arrived—it was called at 8.25 ‘ a.m.—the flames from the j little ground-floor room were 1 licking at first-storey windows. • One drum of foam was suf- ’ ficient to blanket the small ’ room.