Fierce blaze at Antonio House.

Press, 16 June 1982, Page 6

Fierce blaze at Antonio House.

Students clean up after the big fire in their common room and games room at Antonio House, formerly Campion Hall, at 265 Riccarton Road, yesterday. The fierce blaze destroyed the interior of both rooms, which are on the first floor of the brick building. Mr P. Luisetti, who bought Campion Hall from the Catholic Church last year, discovered the fire. He opened the door of the games room just after 9 a.m. to be met by “a wall of flames.”

“I came back out faster than I went in. I had no idea that a concrete-lined room could burn like that,” said Mr Luisetti. Couches and other furniture had become “fireballs,” he said. Smoke-stop doors prevented the fire from spreading into the accommodation wings, where some students were still asleep in their rooms, but it crossed a hallway and gutted the common room before firemen could control it. Peter Mee, aged 22, was

asleep in his room when he was woken by the fire alarm and “guys running down the corridor saying ‘Fire, get out’.” He had time to put some clothes on and join otherresidents gathered on the frosty lawn to watch what he described as a “spectacular” blaze. Several residents had rushed outside as soon as they heard the alarm, and stood in night attire and barefoot on th lawn for more than 30 minutes, until it was safe to return to their rooms.

Fiona Anderson, aged 19, was studying in her room near the common room when she heard the alarm. “I had no time to grab anything. I looked around the room for something to take but could not think of anything.” She ran down to one end of the corridor, banging on doors to alert other residents, and then joined the group on the lawn. Once safely outside, their thoughts turned to sympathy for Mr “L” (Luisetti), and disappointment that the tele-

vision in the common room, which many planned to watch this morning’s World Cup soccer match on, was probably destroyed. “The firemen did a fine job. It could have been a lot worse,” said Mr Luisetti. There had been no structural damage, the building was fully insured and the students’ sleeping and eating areas were not affected. Many of the 98 male and female student residents gave up their lectures yesterday to help Mr Luisetti clean up the mess.