FIRE AT GEAR WORKS, PETONE

Evening Post, Volume XCVI, Issue 138, 7 December 1918, Page 7

FIRE AT GEAR WORKS, PETONE

- The Petono Fire Brigade was called out yesterday afternoon to suppress an outbreak of fire which occurred in the preserving department of the Gear Works, Petone. The fire commenced in the bulk store where the tins are lacquered and labelled. During the process the tins are dipped in the lacquer, which is composed of highly-inflammable substances. How this caught fire has not yet been discovered, but when the alarm was given the blaze, assisted by the contents of the lacquer receptacle, wooden boxes, labels, etc., had already got a dangerous hold, endangering tlhe tinmaking -department upstairs and, damaging a large quantity of the stocks downstairs of tinned meats and other goods. The contents of the upstairs floor consisted largely of plate tin in large quantities, and this was damaged by water, and will have to be carefully dried to prevent rusting. The amount of the damage, though not yet estimated, will prpbably run into four figures, for, though the building was not damaged to any considerable extent, the value of the packed meat amounted to a. large sum, and the contents of the tins may have been spoiled by the extra heat. The handling of the plate tin alone, some hundreds of tons, will mean the expenditure of a largo amount of labour.