BOARDING HOUSE BLAZE

Greymouth Evening Star, 16 June 1922, Page 5

BOARDING HOUSE BLAZE

MAN BURNT TO DEATH.

POLICEMAN’S HEROISM.

(Per Press Association.)

AUCKLAND, June 16.

A fire attended with fatal results occurred in the early hours of this morning at the Sonoma Boardinghouse, Grey Street.

The victim was Nathaniel Hayden, an elderly boarder, occupying a room on the top floor. The Fire Brigade arrived at 1.20 a.m., and the upper floor was then in the grip of the flames. Hearing there was a man in a room on the top floor, they put up a ladder, and a fireman entered the room. He was overcome by fumes and became unconscious. Constable Wilson ran up the ladder and rescued the unconscious fireman. He returned to the room, was himself overcome by smobe and had to be got out in an unconscious condition by Driver Pardy. Recovering, he made a third entry into the room, this time discovering and removing the badly burned body of the victim of the fire, life then being extinct. There were about ten other boarders, al) of whom escaped injury, though some had to make their escape in night attire. Fireman Thompson, who was overcome by smoke, and Constable Wilson both recovered from their temporary unconsciousness without ill-effects.

The house is a two-storey building occupied by Mrs Rae. The damage was confined to the upper floor. The furniture was insured for £2OO

The dead man was a ship’s carpenter, a native of England, and had no relatives in New Zealand.