FIRE AT BLENHEIM

Evening Star, Issue 19023, 19 August 1925, Page 11

FIRE AT BLENHEIM

TWO SHOPS GUTTED GOOD WORK SAVES THREATENED BLOCK. [Per United Press Association.] BLENHEIM, August 19. The worst fire experienced in Blenheim for some years broke out at 2.30 this morning simultaneously in two adjoining two-storied wooden shops in Market street north, owned by William Murray. One, formerly occupied by A. W. Taylor, fancy goods merchant, was vacant, and the other was occupied by John Bailey, pastrycook and confectioner. The top floor of this building was occupied by the Trocadero Tea Rooms, owned by Mrs V. M. Yealands. The fires had a good hold before being noticed, but the brigade put up a wonderfully good performance, using the high-pressure water supply and also the auxiliary pumping plant, and had the fire under control in half an hour. It was a great save, as a line of wooden shops extends from the scene of tho fire as far as Girlings, Ltd., in Alarket square, and failure to immediately cope with the outbreak would have meant a fearful holocaust, involving practically a whole block.

The two shops to which the fire was confined were fairly well gutted. The buildings, which were very old, were insured tor £1,310 in the Sun Office. Bailey’s insurance on stock and fittings was £6OO, and Airs Yealands’s £IOO, both in the United. Earlier in the night an outbreak at the Empire Hotel was suppressed without damage. It is a coincidence that Air Fletcher (secretary of the Underwriters’ Association) and other representatives of insurance companies _ are in Blenheim with a view to reducing fire insurance premiums in the town. They had witnessed a demonstration by tho brigade yesterday afternoon, and were interested spectators at the real outbreak.