£l0,000 Damage In Factory Fire

Press, Volume CIV, Issue 30715, 2 April 1965, Page 17

£l0,000 Damage In Factory Fire

A fiery blast from an exploding acetylene bottle blew two firemen off their feet, burning their faces and hands while they were fighting a fire which gutted an electrical goods factory in Balfour street early yesterday morning.

The firemen, Edward Law and Keith Wayman, of the Headquarters station, were treated at the Christchurch Hospital for shock and burns and allowed to go home. A St. John ambulance' driver, returning to base; from another job, saw the glow of the fire. He was at the scene and had the injured firemen in his ambulance before a radio call for an ambulance could be sent out. The fire caused £lO,OOO worth of damage to the premises and contents of Avon Electric Services, Ltd. The building is a house, converted into a factory for the manufacture of electrical appliances and associated goods. The managing director of the firm (Mr D. Easterbrook) said the factory was insured. Bedroom Lit Up An explosion woke neighbours, and Mrs R. Chapman, who lives across the road, was roused by the glare of flames which lit up her bedroom “like daylight." The alarm was telephoned to the fire brigade at 1.6 a.m. and two engines from Headquarters station and one from Sydenham were turned out.

The fire was at its fiercest in the centre of three rooms. A few minutes after the bottle of acetylene ruptured and blew the two firemen over, another bottle in the same room split as the gas expanded in the heat.

Bricks Pushed Out It hit a brick wall with such force that it pushed several bricks out of plumb. Other explosions were caused by a drum containing about three gallons of petrol and a smaller oil drum.

Firemen used several hoses from high pressure mains and had the fire under control within 20 minutes. Some of them were still at the factory at 6.30 a.m.

making sure no live embers were left, and cleaning up. The fire began in the vicinity of an electric battery charger. At the height of the fire, just before the brigade I arrived, some men from the neighbourhood lifted the factory gates from their hinges, ■smashed a window in the j driving cab and pushed a van ito safety. “I am extremely grateful to whoever saved the van,” Air Easterbrook said yesterday.