FIRE OUTBREAKS

Greymouth Evening Star, 16 May 1927, Page 2

FIRE OUTBREAKS

LYTTELTON SHEDS DESTROYED.

(Per Press Association.)

LYTTELTON, May 15.

The biggest fire which has yet occurred at Lyttelton since the New Zealand Shipping Company’s wool shed was destroyed 14 years ago, broke out in the early hours this morning, when a block of boat sheds on the waterfront adjoining the dock and owned by Messrs J. Miller, Ltd., and G. C. Whitford, both shipwrights, was completely destroyed, along with a large boat slip owned by the Harbour Board.

The block was a rambling structure of wooden sheds, all dry as tinder, and with shavings, timber, paint, and boats contained in them, making all the requirements for a big fire. The brigade had a hopeless task in front of them on their arrival, the flames leaping 50 feet in the air, and during the fire big pieces of blazing timber floated away on the water, endangering yachts and small craft moored nearby, and handicapped from the start by the low pressure of water the brigade could do little more than prevent the fire spreading to other buildings and stacks and trucks of timber. While the blaze was at its height the Harbour Board’s tug,' Lyttelton, took up a position alongside the dock jetty, and her pumps -were connected with the brigade’s hose, thus augmenting the water supply. Several boats which were housed in the sheds were destroyed by fire. The Takapuna sailing punts Waiwi and Seaplane owned by Elliott Sinclair and Hubert Norris respectively, both of which took part in the Cornwall Cup contest in February, were lost, together with P. Sinclair’s Linnet 2nd. A number of dingies on the slip were burned as well as a large keel yacht of about 2J tons, which Miller and Coy had nearly completed for B. Scowell. A fire broke out in a motor boat, Eunice, but was extinguished by a scratch crew in the Sea Scout boat. A fishing launch, Bessie, .which launched herself in the early stages of the fire through its securing ropes burning through, was damaged to the extent of £250. No estimates of the damage are as yet available, but the losses must run into several thousands.

HOMESTEAD DESTROYED.

PAHIATUA, May 16.

The seven-roomed residence occupied by Chas. Frederick Holdaway at Ballance, owned by his father Ernest S. Holdaway was completely destroyed and also the contents by fire last night. A fierce gale was blowing. A defective chimney was the cause of the fire. There was a comprehensive policy on the residence, and cowshed £650, furniture £2OO, piano £BO.