LARGE FIRE IN NELSON

Press, Volume CXII, Issue 32967, 13 July 1972, Page 14

LARGE FIRE IN NELSON

(From Our Own Reporter;

NELSON, July 12.

Thousands of dollars worth of carpet and furniture was destroyed when two retail stores, operating as one unit, were destroyed by fire in Nelson tonight.

The old wooden buildings were occupied by Specialty Carpets, Ltd, in Hardy Street, Nelson. Another building alongside a retail furniture store operated by the same firm was endangered by the blaze.

The building was well ablaze when the fire brigade arrived at the scene shortly after 11 p.m. Many of those who rushed to Hardy Street to watch the blaze volunteered their services to clear the furniture shop of its stocks, which were then hastily stockpiled across the road, on the footpath and in a motor retailer’s showroom. On the other side of the burning building, a 15in concrete wall prevented the spread of the fire into the hardware shop of T. Stewart and Sons. The fire brigade sounded a general alarm calling in volunteer firemen from all over the city. It is believed that a joiner’s workshop standing on this site was also destroyed by fire in 1928. The shops are occupied by Keith Lummis, Ltd, and owned by his son, Mr G. R. Lummis, who has a large catpet store almost across the road from the burnt buildings.

The name of the shop from which the furniture was

taken by volunteers, is Chesterfield House, also run by Keith Lummis, Ltd. Three separate buildings are run as one furniture store by Keith Lummis, Ltd. The buildings were insured according to Mr G. R. Lummis, for a mere fraction of their replacement value. It could not be ascertained if the stock was insured.

During the height of the blaze, a motor accident occurred on the corner of Washington Road and St Vincent Street, and it was reported that one of the cars involved was taking a volunteer fireman to the fire. Four units of the Nelson and Stoke fire brigades were used at the blaze. These were manned by regular members of the brigade, and by a large force of volunteers.

The brigade had the blaze under control by 11.45 p.m., but was still mopping up isolated pockets of fire at 12.30 a.m.

According to Mr G. R. Lummis, a lot of furniture was stored on the second storeys of the buildings, and this would account for the intensity of the blaze at its height.

The fire seemed to have started on the ground floor. Hundreds of people, some still in night clothes, drove to the scene, but most remained well back on the footpath and caused no major obstruction.

Two of the buildings are old, and it appeared likely they would need to be demolished. Chesterfield House suffered comparatively minor damage.