Inquiry Into New York Fire
( N.Z.P. A.-Reuter—Copyright) NEW YORK, January 15. The Mayor of New York, Mr John Lindsay, yesterday ordered the fullest possible investigation into a gas mains explosion which devastated an eight-block area in the denselypopulated suburb of Queens on Friday.
“It must not happen again,” Mr Lindsay declared. Almost miraculously, no-one was killed by the sheet of flame that swept over the area, destroying or badly damaging 22 buildings in the suburb, about two miles north of Kennedy Airport. Nine houses, mostly built of wood, were razed and two fire engines and nine other vehicles were gutted as flames leaped hundreds of feet into the air, melting overhead
lines and turning telephone poles into flaming torches.
Credit for the low death toll was attributed to three policemen who, minutes before the explosion, ran up and down the streets warning people to get out of their homes.
About 300 men, women and children spent Friday night in Red Cross and Salvation Army shelters, but many were expected to return to their homes as soon as the mess had been cleared up.
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Press, Volume CVI, Issue 31269, 16 January 1967, Page 13
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183Inquiry Into New York Fire Press, Volume CVI, Issue 31269, 16 January 1967, Page 13
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