QUICK DESTRUCTION

Evening Post, Volume CX, Issue 135, 5 December 1930, Page 10

QUICK DESTRUCTION

EXPLOSION AND FIRE

THIRTY CARS BURNED

(By Telegraph—Press Association.) HASTINGS, This Day. About thirty cars, only two or three pi which were new, were destroyed by B fire which,- following a violent esploBion apparently caused by benzine, completely gutted a two-storied wood and iron annexe to J. E. Peach and Co.'s garage "at the corner of Eastbourne Street and Karamu road, Hastings, in the early hours this morning. The fire was one of the fiercest and tnost spectacular that has been seen in Eastings in recent years, and in hardly tnore than ten minutes had done its destructive . work. The flames lit_ up the whole neighbourhood so vividly that it seemed, at first as though even the buildings across the street were ablaze. The brigade was quickly on the eeene, and did magnificent work against heavy odds. The main part of the garage, in which a very largo number of cars was stored, was separated from the annexe by a brick wall, and was not affected except by smoke and water. The annexe was an old building, at one time known as Sorensen's Building. Three alarms were given simultaneously at 12.40 a.m. Constable M'Coll, •who was on beat duty, had his attention attracted by a violent explosion. He immediately gave the alarm. Mr. C. Eberhard, manager of the garage, was putting his car away in ithe garage when the first explosion occurred, and according to himself "he picked himself up from the middle of the road." , A nearby resident said that she was awakened by an explosion, followed by another a few minutes afterwards. She then saw the building a mass of flames. The cars and trucks which were burnt were all second-hand, except two trucks. "While it lasted, the fire was an rweinspiring spectacle, the heat from tho blazing building being intense. The explosion shook the police station, about 150 yards away. It was fortunate that there was a thick brick wall between the two buildIngs, otherwise the .damage would have been more extensive. The insurances are not available.