LABOUR DEPARTMENT LIBRARY BURNT

Dominion, Volume 30, Issue 265, 5 August 1937, Page 12

LABOUR DEPARTMENT LIBRARY BURNT

Hope Gibbons Building FIREMEN IN SMOKE-MASKS QUELL CITY OUTBREAK

Smoke pouring from the second floor windows of the Hope Gibbons Building in Dixon Street, and the arrival of four fire-engines with syrens screaming, attracted a considerable crowd in the city about 7 o’clock last night. The lire, which occurred in,. the Labour Department’s library on the second floor, was put out by brigaflesmen in smoke-masks before serious ■ damage was done, beyond the destruction of a number of files of records and bound volumes, and the wooden partition between the library and the adjoining corridor. The library itself was practically gutted. The alarm was given by the caretaker who was working on, a higher floor when he saw smoke issuing from the lift-shaft. He at once summoned the Central Fire Brigade., Four engines raced through the streets. On arrival, they found the whole of the second and third floors filled with smoke so dense that it was impossible to see a hand held a foot in front of one’s nose. Smoke-maeks were donned, but it was some little time before the seat of the fire was located. As windows and doors were opened to allow the fumes to disperse, great volumes of white smoke rolled out over the city, and created an impression that the lire must be of much greater extent than was actually the case. Once discovered, it was soon extinguished with a single line of hose. The fire appeared to have broken out among files of papers in a corridor next the library, -which in turn is adjacent to the Records Office. The papers had evidently smouldered for some time, burning through the partition and igniting shelves of books iu the libraij. The smouldering paper was responsible for the vast amount of smoke, which was prevented from escaping by the concrete floors and ceiling. But, if this style of building bottled up the smoke, it also prevented the damage from extending into other parts of the building. An official of the Labour Department said last night he did not think many important records had been burnt. Had the Records Office next door caught, the loss might have been irreplaceable. As it was, most of the volumes on that side of the room were Parliamentary papers of which duplicates were obtainable. No theory of the cause of the tire has yet been put forward. It is believed to have been alight for some hours before it was discovered. Amusement was provided for the crowds by an announcer from 2ZB who was anxious to describe the outbreak which had taken place in the building where the station’s offices are situated. He stood microphone in hand on the doorstep, with the usual retinue of youths in earphones, and the complex of batteries and wires inseparable from wireless broadcasting, but when he appeared to be about to speak, one of his supporters informed him that a recording from Italian opera had been put on instead.