FIRE GUTS BUILDINGS

Press, Volume CVI, Issue 31304, 25 February 1967, Page 1

FIRE GUTS BUILDINGS

Big Blaze This Morning A spectacular fire gutted buildings owned by Guthreys Freightways, Ltd. and Imperial Chemical Industries, Ltd. in Carlyle street, Sydenham, early this morning. Huge explosions hurtled flaming debris high into the air across streets and on to the roofs of nearby buildings. The fire, which started about 1 a.m., spread through several buildings and attracted a large crowd. In the blast two firemen were injured and taken to hospital and two ambulances were standing by. Because of the danger of further explosions as the fire spread from a rear building into one on Carlyle street, police with dogs cleared the street of people. People in adjacent houses were evacuated. Flames soared hundreds of feet in the air and mushroom-like clouds of smoke drifted over the centre of the city.

A senior fire officer refused to let newspaper, radio and television reporters into the area. “There’s chloride gas loose. We’ve cleared the area,” he said. “If you, know anything about chloride gas, you’d be in Papanui by now.”

“If you want to know anything you’ll have to see the chief,” he said. A reporter of “The Press” inside the cordoned area could not get near the chief because he was too busy directing the fighting of the fire.

The fire was still not under control at 2.30 a.m.

The two firemen who were injured and taken to the Christchurch Hospital for treatment are Raymond Shaw, who was admitted with head injuries, and David Woods, who was treated for an eye injury and discharged.

Soon after the fire started, men from Guthreys removed trucks, mobile cranes and cars from the firm’s yard. Hundreds of people gathered under the canopy of the railway goods sheds in Carlyle street, watching the blaze.

Many police were in the area to control the crowds and traffic, and a radio base was set up to link the cordons.

The first shattering explosion sent dozens racing clear of the danger area and police immediately threw a cordon at the Colombo street entrance of Carlyle street. Risked Lives Lumps of burning wood, metal and flaming material shot out from the centre of] the fire. There were lesser | thumps and firemen risked I their lives in the midst of I the blaze. One of the injured firemen returned with a bandage across his right eye “to get permission to go home.” He had been struck in the eye by flaming material after the first explosion. He had been taken to hospital by the police. At 1.30 a m. two ambulances arrived to stand by in case of further Injuries. These were considered likely because of the threat of further explosions. Oil Drums Two teen-age boys, anxious to help, tried to seek permission from firemen and police to roll four 40 gallon drums of oil from the fire area. Permission was received from the firemen but not from the police and the plan was dropped At 2.30 a.m. one youth was carried bodily from Carlyle street by three policemen and bundled into a waggon. He was later charged with obstructing the police. Fire engines came from the central area and the suburbs to the scene. Water to fight the blaze was drawn from a wide area, and at 2 a.m. hoses

were run across the overhead bridge to Moorhouse avenue.

Bystanders Cleared

Constable L. I. Bruce, with his police dog, Gina, cleared a number of bystanders just before the main explosion. If be had not done so, some of the bystanders may have been killed and others injured by the flying debris. While flames "Shot around the power poles in the street, and around the wires, the street lights continued to function until about 2 a.m. until the power was switched off. They added nothing to visibility near the fire, looking only slightly more powerful than the stars.

The contents of the storage shed in which the fire began had not been discovered by 2.30 a.m.

Shortly before 1.30 ajn., a tremendous explosion reduced the shed to piles of iron and wood and showered debris on to the nearby streets, into alleyways, and on to the roofs of adjacent buildings. The roadway of Carlyle street was littered with burning beams and embers, and smoke began to pour from the roof of the office on the corner opposite the shed. Vehicles Shifted Mr A. R. Guthrey said a number of vehicles in and outside the storage shed had been shifted by members of the company staff and bystanders, but there were still some vehicles inside. He said the gutted building had been an old stable originally used by J. M. Hamilton, Ltd. It had been used for general storage and he had no idea what had been in it at the time of the fire.

It had been a single-storey building constructed with iron, and had had an open end. It had covered a quarter of an acre and had been ready for demolition. Next door, on the corner of Carlyle and Hawdon streets, was a double-storey forwarding block and mess room which had been built last year. On the opposite corner was the office of Guthrey’s , Freightways, Ltd. Risk Feared On the other side of the 'storage shed was a new furniture store which had explosive ! materials inside.

Several employees of the firm came up to Mr Guthrey and told him they thought they could get several drums of explosive material out of the furniture store at the back of the shed.

They said the store was being threatened by flames which were out of control. The police stopped them from risking their lives.

“Everybody has done a particularly good job in getting the vehicles out,” said Mr Guthrey. Spectators came from North Beach to watch the blaze, which one man said he could see clearly from the beach.