Building Insured

Press, Volume CVI, Issue 31248, 21 December 1966, Page 1

Building Insured

The building leased by the Para Rubber Company, Ltd., which was burned out last evening, is owned by the Bassett Estate. The building is insured and the two firms occupying it are insured against stock and equipment losses.

The managingdirector of the Para Rubber Company (Mr D. Davies) said that his company had been negotiating to buy the building from the estate. He thought the building would now have to be demolished.

Mr Davies said there was no alarm bell system, and no automatic sprinklers. The two main doors of the shop were very easy to see and locate.

He said senior staff members had been cool and quick in making sure everybody got out. “We have lost almost all the stock. Fortunately we have a branch in High street which will enable us to cater for our business obligations in Christchurch,” Mr Davies said.

The Chief Fire Officer (Mr L. R. Osmond), who directed his men at the fire in his ordinary suit, no hat and carpet slippers as he was off duty when the alarm went, said he wished to thank the police and traffic officers “for their great help at the fire. They cordoned the block off to vehicular traffic and kept the | crowds well back so that we! could get a fair go.” Mr Osmond also thanked the St. John Ambulance. First I aid treatment was given from! an ambulance to several fire-1

men and the ambulance later took two to hospital for further treatment Station Officer A. Marcus was treated at the hospital at 9.30 p.m. for a hand injury. The head steward at the Embassy Hotel, Mr T. M. McDougall, said he set off the hotel fire alarm. The hotel was evacuated and a check made of all rooms to see that nobody remained. The staff

was allowed back in at 6.35 p.m. “The fire couldn’t have happened at a worse time of the year,” said Mr V. R. Skellerup, managing-director of Skellerup Industries, Ltd., parent company of the Para Rubber Company.

Uniform-branch men and detectives from the Christchurch police, two equipped with walkie-talkie radios, assisted traffic officers in crowd patrol. A police car was used to take a fireman with an injured hand to hospital. “I would like to express my thanks to the officers and men of the fire brigade. They fought the fire well. It was a baptism for some of the younger firemen, but they learned quickly,” Mr Osmond said. “It was not an easy fire because burning rubber, dense smoke and no access from the back of the building made it hard to fight”