Shops, hotel burn

Press, 6 November 1984, Page 6

Shops, hotel burn

Damage valued at hundreds of thousands of dollars was done in a Greymouth blaze last evening which effectively finished a block of shops and a hotel in Boundary Street. The fire broke out soon after 5 p.m. in the premises of the Greymouth Grain Company, which occupies two shops adjacent to the New Commercial Hotel. Chaff and other material was quickly ablaze. One of the proprietors of the hotel, Mr Gavin McKenzie, who had gone upstairs, was told by a boarder that he could see flames leaping from the grain store. Customers were evacuated quickly. A half-con-sumed glass of beer and some change was later seen on the bar as proof of the speed of the fire, which roared through the grain store and the rear of the hotel. The > blaze then spread to the hotel roof, which was

wrecked, and to adjacent premises used as a workshop by the block owner, Mr Peter Rae. These were gutted. Severe damage was caused to Intemann’s Cafe next door. Firemen from the three volunteer units, under the direction of the district commander, Chief Fire Officer E. W. Saunders, fought the blaze for over an hour. The cause of the fire is not yet known. Firemen were still . dampening down minor outbreaks last evening and carrying away twisted . sheets of iron on trucks.