BLAZE ON TERRACE

Evening Post, Volume CXIII, Issue 80, 5 April 1927, Page 10

BLAZE ON TERRACE

THREE HOUSES DESTROYED

FOURTH BADLY DAMAGED

OTHERS SAVED BY THE

BRIGADE

Hundreds of people watched one of tlie most spectacular blazes that has been seen in "Wellington for a long time, when/shortly after noon to-day, two houses on The Terrace, at the upper end of Abel Smith street, were burnt to the ground, a third was burned out, and a fourth was damaged by fire, smoke, and water.

Brief details of the damage done, together with the insurances where available, are:—

No. 175, Abel Smith street, a thir-teen-roomed; unoccupied house belonging to Mr. A. Spiro, of Wellington. It was totally destroyed.

No. 178, Abel Smith street, a sevenroomed .house . owned and occupied by Mr. A. C. Geddis, which, with its contents, was totally destroyed. Both the house and its contents were insured.

No. 180, Abel Smith street, a sixroomed house owned and occupied by Mr. W. Ambury. The house was burned out, and almost all the furniture lost. It was insured, and the contents were covered by a policy for £180 in the State Office.

No. 182, Abel Smith, street, .a fourroomed house owned and occupied by Mr. W. Wearne. One of the walls was badly damaged, and further loss was sustained through smoke and water. Mr. "VVearne has a policy for £600 on the house and one for £200 on.the furniture. ' .

All four houses were in a row, Mr. Spiro's being situated on the side of the hill, almost at the top of the flights of steps which : lead from upper Abel Smith street.to The Terrace. The

other three are on the hill, to the west.

Flames were leaping through the roof of Mr. Spiro's house when, the brigade arrived on the scene at about mid-day, in response to a wall given by Mrs. 11. S. Phillips, who, with her husband, was living with Mrs. Ambury, at No. 180. The house, of two stories, was a mass of flames, and the brigade, realising tho futility of attempting to save it, had to confine its efforts to attempting to check the spread of the fire. Two leads of hose were run Tound the back of the building, between it and the Terrace Infants' School, and another was directed on to tho fire from the top of the steps. Fanned by a steady southerly, the ilames soon bridged tho gulf between the largo wooden structure in which tho outbreak started and Mr. Geddis's home, and this, already badly scorched by the intense heat, soon burst into names. Deupite the strenuous efforts of the brigade, Tittle or nothing could be done to prevent the second house, which was also of wood, from becoming a total loss. Even the ftirniture could not be removed, so quicU'/ did the place burn. All the time the fire-fighters were handicapped by the great heat.

Only a few feet separated Mr. Geddis's house from that of Mr. Ambury, and despite tho great volumes of water being poured on to the names, the fire could not bo prevented from crossing the second gap. Little or no furniture could bo removed before the fire had secured a good hold, and practically nothing but the framework skeleton, with badly burned weather-boards still left in places, now remains.

Bands" of workers had bepn busy j> the meantime- removing furniture .from the next three houses, but by this time the fire was well, checked. Had it not been for the splendid work of the brigade, which was using the new Wembley engine for pumping, theso tlireo structures, which are all of wood, separated from one another by but a fewfeet, might easily have.become victims to the flames. As it was, the south wall of Mr. Wearne's place, which is next to Mr. Ambury's, was badly burned, and the ilames had already got through to the kitchen when the fire was got under control. Smoke and water caused minor damage, but all the furniture had been got to safety. So. intense was the heat that the windows of the school, which is of brick, were cracked. The building suffered no other damage. How the outbreak occurred is a mystery, Mr. Spiro's house,. which contained no furniture, having been unoccupied for nearly a year. Before that, it had been used as a boardinghouse.

Among those who rendered valuable assistance to Superintended J. Creekc and his men were a -strong detachment of Fire Police, under Deputy-Captain i\ Ballinger and Lieutenants A. A'sher and J. Short, and a good muster of police, under Sergeant G. F. Boniseh. They, together with the neighbours, were responsible for the removal to safety of most of the furniture.