GUY FAWKES CASUALTIES

Press, Volume CVI, Issue 31210, 7 November 1966, Page 1

GUY FAWKES CASUALTIES

Twenty people, some of them babies, suffered burns at a Guy Fawkes community 7 bonfire at Kawerau.

Wet weather did nothing to dampen the enthusiasm of Christchurch celebrants, but none of the fires in the city could directly be traced to Guy Fawkes blazes.

Twenty persons with burns, three requiring medical attention, were treated by the Kawerau-St. John Ambulance Brigade at the community Guy Fawkes bonfire attended by about 2000 persons on Friday night, the Press Association reports.

One child had a red hot sparkler pushed into her ear and babies suffered burns. Mrs W. van Gulick, the St. John Ambulance duty officer in charge, said that the lack of • supervision and parental control was appalling. “A large number of unaccompanied small children, many bare-footed, wandered at will in the bonfire area,” he said. Sergeant E. Line, of the Kawerau police, said: “Fireworks were let off indiscriminately even by adults and I am amazed there were not more injuries. “I think serious thought should be given to whether this event should be permitted again.”

Scrub Blaze A sky-rocket is believed to have started a spectacular fire in acres of manuka, scrub, gorse and broom at Bluff on Saturday night. Firemen fought the blaze for nearly five hours before they had it under control.

The fire, fanned by a strong easterly wind, threatened several homes. The Bluff Volunteer Fire Brigade arrived at the fire about 8.25 p.m., and requested help from the Invercargill brigade. The Bluff firemen protected homes threatened by the intense heat, but lack of pressure in the water mains hampered their efforts. Some of the weary firemen who doused the last of the flames at 1.30 a.m. on Sunday, stayed on duty. Others went home to sleep, and relieved them at 6 a.m. Timber Endangered Fire caused more than £35,000 worth of damage to timber and buildings in the yards of Carter Merchants Maramarua, Ltd., at Papakura, on Saturday morning. Firemen from permanent and volunteer brigades from Papakura to Auckland central had the blaze under control in an hour and a half.

Employees of the firm manned fork hoists and ferried to safety about 300,000 super feet of timber endangered by the blaze. The assistant branch manager of the firm, Mr G. E. Thompson, said today that 75,000 to 100,000 super feet of timber was destroyed. Christchurch Fires The rear of a rooming house at 19 Baretta street,

Somerfield, was gutted by fire early on Saturday. One of the two occupants of the house, Richard Foreman, aged 20, a woolpresser, was married later in the day. Units from the Sydenham and Central stations answered a call received at 5.29 a.m. and it was some time before the firemen could get the blaze under control. Mr Foreman was awakened by smoke pouring into his bedroom. He said he went into the kitchen and saw that the fire had too great a hold to fight it unaided. He warned his room-mate and best man, Jelte Rooks, and they flung their clothes and other possessions out the window. Mr Rooks telephoned the brigade from a neighbour’s house. Among the articles destroyed in the fire was a record player which was a wedding present. The house, which is owned by Anton Altandishliyeff, and its contents were insured.

A 10ft by Bft shed at the residence of Mrs Ivy Walker, 49 Riselaw street, was destroyed by fire on Saturday evening. The cause of the blaze is not known. Units from the Central and Sydenham stations answered a call received at 7.9 p.m. One unit from the Harewood station answered a call to a fire on the roadside at 8.4 p.m. on Saturday after a child had set alight to petrol. A toolshed, washhouse and lavatory at the residence of Mr R. Thompson, 95 Harman street were damaged by fire Units from the Central and Sydenham stations answered a call received at 1.11 a.m.

Station Opened The new £24,000 Waihi fire station, which replaces the old station destroyed by fire three years ago, was opened on Guy Fawkes Day. The fire brigade occupied the old station for 50 years before it was lost by fire on June 4, 1963.