FIRE AT ADDINGTON WORKSHOPS

Dominion, Volume 37, Issue 120, 16 February 1944, Page 6

FIRE AT ADDINGTON WORKSHOPS

Considerable Damage Done

(Bv Telegraph.—Press Association.! OHRISTOHURCH, February 15. Fire swept through the car-repair and paint shop at the Addington Railway Workshops early this morning, causing damage reaching to • thousands of pounds. The city and suburban fire brigades, assisted by members of the workshops staff, battled with the flames. A large section of the repair shop—an area of 32,000 square feet—is a tangled mass of twisted iron, steel and charred wood, while the annexe —an area of 20,000 square feet —is practically burnt out.

Efforts to save the annexe and portion of the main shed were hopeless from the outset, and were not unattended with danger, for tins of paint were exploding and burning timber was falling from the roofs and walls. Tarpaulins which were stored in the paint shop provided additional inflammable material for the fire, which ■‘■as fanned by an easterly breeze. At one stage the adjacent wood mill and timber yards were in serious danger.

The works manager (Mr. S. B. Barltrop) said today that by the end of next week the car and repairing activities would be proceeding as usual. The losses in paint and other stores were not so heavy as might have been anticipated for the stocks kept in the shon were just to cope with current work. Tools would probably constitute the main problem under the heading of replacement of plant.