FIREBUGS AT WORK

Press, Volume CVIII, Issue 31755, 12 August 1968, Page 1

FIREBUGS AT WORK

(New Zealand Press Association) WELLINGTON, August 11. Fires set by lighted candles, placed among vestments, caused a fierce blaze in back rooms of the Sacred Heart Church in Thorndon, Wellington, this afternoon. The blaze—treated by the police as arson—was noticed just before 2.30 p.m. by a woman who called the parish priest, Father J. S. Tottman, and his assistant. They used a garden hose to put the fires out before brigade units arrived.

In Auckland, the police are seeking a man seen leaving a Glen Eden tableware factory just before fire broke out in the building last night causing damage amounting to several thousand dollars.

Police and firemen believe the man is the same one responsible for a series of fires in the Glen Eden area about five months ago—when two shops, two schools, a house, and a railway station were damaged. In the Thorndon church fire, a beautiful and valuable set of vestments, laid out for

the priest celebrating evening Mass, was used to start a fire in one place. The vestments were ruined. In a corridor nearby, lighted candles were placed in curtained wooden niches containing altar-boys’ wear. The curtains and clothing were destroyed, and the wooden framework burned fiercely. Hymn cards, candles, and curtains were also set alight elsewhere. Flames Through Skylights In the Auckland fire, about 20 firemen in four engines found flames pouring through the skylights and walls in the front part of the Glen Eden factory of Pen Hagen Products, Ltd. They had the blaze under control in half an hour. The chief fire officer of the Glen Eden Volunteer Fire Brigade, Mr E. A. Tancred, said there was evidence that the building had been entered and that the fire appeared to have been deliberately started. A police officer said: “I would hate to estimate the value of damage this firebug has caused. He is a burglar. This fellow breaks in for the express purpose of stealing money, and then sets fire to the place. “The description we have of him is similar to one we had for an attempted fire during that series a few months ago.” The officer said it appeared the man had caused great

; damage for the sake of about . $2.