FACTORY FIRE

Dominion, Volume 34, Issue 82, 31 December 1940, Page 9

FACTORY FIRE

Old Masonic Hall In ! Boulcott Street £5OOO DAMAGE Furniture And Materials Destroyed The old Masonic Hall in Boulcott Street, one of the oldest buildings in Wellington, was almost completely destroyed by a lire which swept through the twostoried wooden building shortly after 9 o’clock yesterday morning. The building was used as a factory and showroom by the Wellington Cabinet Company (1938), Ltd., manufacturers of furniture, upholstery and bedding.

Tire cause of tlie lire is unknown. It is believed to have started in an upstairs store-room and spread rapidly to the upper part of the building. The damage is estimated at. between £5OOO and £6OOO. The contents of two showrooms, furniture valued at about £6OO, were severely damaged by fire, smoke aud water. The building, owned by Mr. W. IL Kenner, was insured for £3OOO. The AVellington Cabinet Company, had the stock insured for £2OOO and the plant and machinery for £5OO. All the insurances are with the Queensland Insurance Co., Ltd. From the outside, the building after the tire looked a gutted shell, but eloser examination revealed that the cabinet-shop on the ground floor and all the machinery had hardly been touched by the fire. The firemen covered the machinery with tarpaulins to minimize damage from rusting caused by water. Workmen’s Heavy Loss. There were only four men in the factory when the fire started —one in the office upstairs, two downstairs in the cabinet-shop, aud the fourth in the front of the building. The flames spread so quickly that the men did not Inive time to save their tools—a cabinetmaker’s kit costs anything from £2O, depending ou the number of special tools used. One man lost £l5 in notes in his coat, The man in the office was found by one of the other men almost dazed and blinded by smoke, and he had to be led downstairs. Flames Spread Rapidly. The brigade received the first alarm at 0.4 a.m., and there was a number of subsequent notifications by telephone. Dense clouds of choking smoke were pouring from the building when the brigade arrived, and flames were soon bursting from the upper story in the front. Five pumps—three from the central station, one from Constable Street and one from Thorndon —and a salvage van were dispatched to the fire, and about ten leads of hose were played on the burning building. Fifty firemen fought the flames for nearly an hour before the fire appeared to slacken, and it took considerably longer than that to extinguish the last of the flames. The nature of the construction of the building presented difficulties to the firemen, there being odd half-floors accessible only from higher levels. The walls were covered with heavj’ plaster and the flames ran up between the plaster and the outside boards, making the fire difficult to extinguish. All the available water was used to light the lire, feed lines being brought from The Terrace and from the 21in. main in Lambton Quay. Two of the fire board’s latest acquisitions, powerful English pumping units, were used to boost up the water pressure. One of the pumps demonstrated its efficiency by lifting the water in four leads of high-pressure hose from Lambton Quay, up Plimmer’s Steps, to the fire. Traffic on the section occupied by the engine between the Bank of New Zealand and tin Hunter Street junction, was diverted round Hunter Street ami Customhouse Quay. There were two pumps in lower Boulcott Street, one on the corner at the top of Plimmer’s Steps, and one in upper Boulcott Street. Neighbouring Houses Saved. While concentrating the leads with the strongest pressure on the seat of the fire, the firemen were alert to stop the flames spreading to the wooden houses on either side. Firemen with smoke helmets entered the building by the front door while others played their hoses through the first-story windows. The facade of the building burned fiercely for n time and a fireman had a narrow escape when a piece of corrugated roofing iron crashed down beside him. Tivo other men from a position on the roof of the house Immediately to the north of the factory, pla.ved a stream of water through the wall which was on fire only a few feet In front of them. From the south another lead was directed on to the factory wall and in the rear a lead was brought up through an alleyway oil Boulcott Street. Here in heat and smoke, the firemen battled for nearly an hour to extinguish the fire in the rear showroom. A crowd of several hundreds stood in Boulcott Street, and on The Terrace while the fire was at its height, many climbing on hoardings to obtain a better view. Some were drenched with spray from the hoses, but stood their ground till the flames had been extin- . guished. Residents of adjoining houses shifted belongings outside in case a hurried move should be necessary, but the brigade’s smart work in containing the fire resulted in the other properties not being so much as blistered by the heat of the flames.