GRAVE FIRE LOSS

Evening Post, Volume CXXIX, Issue 146, 21 June 1940, Page 9

GRAVE FIRE LOSS

LOWER HUTT FACTORY

DAMAGE £70,000

N.Z. SLIPPERS, LTD.

The most disastrous fire that has occurred in the Hutt Valley, and one of the most serious in the Wellington district in property damage and loss and in disruption of industry, wiped out the factory, stores, and offices of New Zealand Slippers, Ltd., only recently erected in Railway Avenue. Lower Hutt, last night. The factory held a great quantity of leather, felts, and stores of inflammable finishing materials, and the whole building exploded in a rolling "whoosh" of flame from end to end within minutes, or less, of the first sign of fire. The brigadesmen were very promptly at work, but the equipment and water supply proved totally inadequate for the control of such a fire, which raged in the main building for two hours before it burned itself out. It was a full "brigade alarm" fire, altogether beyond the two Lower Hutt engines, but, with what equipment and what pressure could be generated the brigadesmen maintained some control along the Railway Avenue frontage. House properties nearby were not endangered, for the night was perfectly calm and the great pillar of flame and smoke and sparks and flaming debris thrown up by muffled explosions rose vertically to a great height. The property damage is today estimated at £70,000. The staff of 320 is out of work, though many will be at once absorbed in other factories, and the fire isMhe more serious at present because of the demands upon the boot and shoe manufacturing industry to meet war supply needs, over and above the domestic needs for footwear. Every boot, shoe, and slipper factory in the Dominion is working at pressure, and the destruction of any of the laVger manufactories, whether engaged directly upon war supplies or not, greatly increases the problem of output. The alarm was given on the stroke of 9 p.m., and was answered with remarkable promptitude by the Lower Hutt brigade, but already the flames made an entrance to the building impossible. The only portion not then affected was an area immediately behind a cart entrance at the eastern end, but here access was blocked by a stock of rolls of felt, the ends of which were beginning to smoulder. Entrance was sought by a door and a window at the eastern end, but the firemen were immediately driven back by the flames and had to confine their energies -to fighting the fire from outside. ABLAZE IN A FLASH. Mr. H. G. Hudson, of 46 Victoria Street, Lower Hutt, who gave the alarm, tells a graphic story of the outbreak. "My wife and I," he said, "were returning home from the township, and as' we crossed the bridge we had the Slippers building in full view. There was not a sign of fire anywhere. It was then five minutes to nine. Before we reached home, about 100 yards from the west end of the. Hutt bridge, we heard a dull explosion, and when we looked round flames-were coming out of the roof and windows of the building. I rushed and pressed the nearest fire alarm just ,as the town clock was striking nine. "The" brigade arrived almost at once, but in that short time there had been more dull explosions and the whole building was a mass of flames." Another eye-witness who had a view of the building from the front said the flames seemed to rush along the whole of the space underneath the gable roof from end to end in a flash. Mr. W. J. Kennedy, assistant manager, was early on the scene, and, after rescuing some of the firm's records, investigated the self-contained building containing the explosive goods used by the factory and found these were all intact. He is at a loss to account for the explosions which were heard and which seem to have been the cause of the rapid extension of the fire. I Mr. Kennedy states thaj; there was no one in the premises after 6 p.m., at which time he went through the whole building before locking up. LOSS OF PLANT AND STOCK. Mr. P. Edwards, managing director of the firm, arrived at the scene later in the evening. He estimates the loss, which he states is fully covered by insurances, at about £70,000—stock and material £40,000 and building and ■plant £30,000. The destruction of the 'material and plant at this stage was, stated Mr. Edwards, a serious matter as it would be extremely difficult to Replace it from England at present. The manufactured stock in hand was estimated at £15,000. The' original cost of the building, which had a frontage to Railway Avenge of 184 ft with a depth of 170 ft, was £10,798. The contract was let in August, 1936, and the building was ready for occupation in January, 1937. The firm employed a staff of 320 men, women, girls, and boys. It is hoped to find employment for some of these almost at once as the firm intends to carry on, as far as possible, at the factory premises of John Grant, Ltd., in Gracefield Road, to which the firm's office and telephone is being transferred today. The Wellington Manufacturers' Association this morning communicated urgently with all boot and shoe manufacturers in the Wellington area to ascertain what number of ■ the staff could be absorbed pending the reestablishment of the destroyed factory. Though detailed work has still to be done the responses received this morning suggested that a considerable number of the New Zealand Slippers employees would be provided for practically at once. TWO ENGINES AND FIVE LEADS. Superintendent Hume, of the Lower Hutt brigade, states that the first alarm was received by telephone, but that almost simultaneously the fire alarm was sounded, the time being 8.58 p.m. He states that there was an ample supply of water at a. good pressure. The two engines of the brigade were both in use, but owing to the celerity with which the fire spread it was impossible to control the fire. To enable the full water supply to be used several of the town supply mains were. cut off. Five leads of hose were Used. The fire was only about. 100 yards from one of the borough pumping stations.