Late-Night Fire Destroys Sawmill
(New Zealand Prexx Association)
AUCKLAND, Oct. 17.
Bushmen and mill workers drove trucks, loaders and a tractor through 30ft high flames while the Carter Merchants’ Barryville sawmill was blazing fiercely late on Friday night. Damage is expected to be more than £lOO,OOO. The 15-year-o!d sawmill, about 20 miles south-west of Mangakano, was burnt to the ground by 2 a.m. The alarm was given at 11.10 p.m. and the Pureora Forest Fire Brigade was on the scene in five minutes. The Bennydale brigade arrived 15 minutes later, but by then the blaze was out of control. Fanned by a fresh breeze, it took only three hours to gut the tinder-dry 300-yard long by 200-yard wide mill. No-one was in the mill at the time.
The night-watchman had just gone off duty when the fire broke out. It is thought to have been started by an electrical fault.
A pipe burst by intense heat saved the boiler from exploding.
No vehicles were lost. Workers drove them out of the blazing workshop across the road to safety. A new bandsaw worth £28,000 was destroyed.
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Bibliographic details
Press, Volume CIV, Issue 30884, 18 October 1965, Page 20
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185Late-Night Fire Destroys Sawmill Press, Volume CIV, Issue 30884, 18 October 1965, Page 20
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