Fire Damages Works Offices

Press, Volume CVIII, Issue 31764, 22 August 1968, Page 16

Fire Damages Works Offices

Fire caused several thousand dollars worth of damage to the offices of D. F. Nuttall Crane Hire and Steel Constructions, Ltd, in Sydenham last night.

The fire. which started in the foreman’s office and spread between the ceiling and roof the length of the office building, is believed to have been caused by an electrical fault.

A private security patrolman noticed a column of smoke from the building, at 40 Brisbane Street, and the alarm was given about 10.40 pjn. The fire was through the roof when firemen arrived and it took them 20 minutes using two hoses from highpressure hydrants to get the blaze under control. The offices were locked and the firemen had to smash a window to get in. The foreman’s office was gutted and the foyer and passage to the draughtsmen’s office and managerial offices were badly damaged. Mr D. F. Nuttall said that valuable drawings and records had not been damaged. but drawings, particularly those concerning a contract for the Reserve Bank in Wellington, were damaged to a degree. The firemen confined the fire to the offices, adjoining the big workshop. Firemen were still extinguishing smouldering pockets at midnight Plantation Fire

Firemen on engines from the Harewood and Sockburn stations and on fire tenders from the New Zealand Refrigerating Company’s Islington works and the Paparua County Council were still fighting a fire in the plantation at the junction of the Main South Road and Halswell Junction Road early this morning. The fire, in branches, pine needles and rubbish, had caused slight damage to the trees.

The alarm was given at 9.44 p.m., and the fire proved very difficult to put out because of rubbish dumped in the area.

At 10.21 p.m., a fire destroyed a hedge on a house property and caused slight

damage to a shed in Colligan Street before it was put out by firemen.