Policeman’s wife douses cell fire

Press, 2 June 1982, Page 3

Policeman’s wife douses cell fire

PA Tauranga A Te Puke policeman's wife used a garden hose to spray water through the peep-hole of a blazing cell on Monday evening, saving the life of’the man in the cell. Constable R. F. Burgess had put the man. who had been found on the roof of a shop, in the cell while he searched for a second man. While he was away smoke started coming from the cell, a heavy wooden structure dating back to the turn of the century, behind the police station. Mrs Burgess played a hose through the cell's peep-hole and doused the fire, said the relieving commander of the Tauranga police sub-district, Inspector M. K. Huggard. That would have helped to save the man inside, he said. The man had been overcome by fumes. Mr Huggard said there was minor charring -of the cell wall and bedding had been destroyed. A man would appear in the District Court at Tauranga charged with burglary and wilfully setting fire to the cell, he said.