Roof Of School Destroyed

Press, Volume CVIII, Issue 31587, 26 January 1968, Page 1

Roof Of School Destroyed

The principal of the institute (Mr D. W. Lyall) could not estimate the damage but said it would cost $400,000 to replace the building.

However, the institute will accept new enrolments as usual next week.

Mr Lyall assured present and intending students that somehow or other suitable found during the term.

Nine units and 41 firemen from city and suburban stations attended the fire, the second major one in Christchurch in 24 hours.

Valuable equipment, including typewriters, sewing machines, tables, chairs and office records, was charred, or damaged by smoke or water. A large section of the corrugated iron roof facing Barbadoes Street buckled and partially caved in. About 50 persons, including staff of the institute and contractors, saved thousands of dollars worth of equipment by dragging it from the burning building. They ran in and out under a pall of smoke, carrying desks, chairs, typewriters, records and other equipment. What they saved was on the ground floor. Firemen who fought the blaze inside and outside the building prevented the flames spreading to the second floor, where other equipment was housed.

The fire was noticed at 12.15 p.m., about 15 minutes after plumbers who had been repairing the spouting on the northern side of the building had gone to lunch. At one stage the roof was alight from end to end. Firemen stood on the roof above the flames, seemingly unafraid that it would collapse under them. To fight the

flames more effectively they chopped their way through the corrugated iron and tore holes in the second-floor ceiling.

A crowd gathered on the pavement in Barbadoes Street and Moorhouse Avenue. Three small wooden ornamental towers on top of the building helped to let the breeze inside the roof. A fireman using a hose at the top of the extension ladder poured water down the towers.

The fire has deprived the institute of 25 teaching rooms. There is some chance that rooms on the ground floor of the south wing will be usable if the roof can be repaired. A Ministry of Works officer inspected the damage yesterday afternoon and will report to the Department of Education in a few days. Last year 150 day students used the building and between 700 and 1000 used it at night. The new term at the institute will begin in a fortnight. As he watched the fire Mr Lyall said he was less concerned about the loss of equipment than about the loss of accommodation. The institute usually has about 6000 part-time students

most of whom attend evening classes.

At worst Mr Lyall expects that a few classes will be cancelled for the first term. A decision about which courses will be affected will be made later.

The chairman of the institute’s board of governors (Mr R. Jones) said the building was to have been demolished within the next five years. It had been condemned because of its age and had been used as a school on a year-to-year certificate. The building was erected in 1906 for what was then the Christchurch Technical College. During the last 50 years the building has been the training centre of tradesmen and students in commercial, dress-making and cooking courses.