JUMP OF 30 FEET

Greymouth Evening Star, 26 November 1927, Page 8

JUMP OF 30 FEET

FROM CELLULOID FIRE

MELBOURNE, November 12

To escape from a fire in a celluloid button factory in Rae Street, North Fitzroy, this morning, Albert Coffin, aged 19 years, of Fergie Street, North Fitzroy, jumped through an open window to the ground, 30ft. below. He broke a leg in the fall. The fire did little damage, as the fire brigades quickly gained control of it. Coffin was working at a machine on the first floor. The other employees were on the ground floor. At the other end of the room in which Coffin was working there were two bags of celluloid upon which the sun had been shining for some time. Without warning, the two bags burst into flames, evidently owing to the heat of the sun. A slight explosion threw the burning celluloid in all directions, some of it falling on Coffin.

With his hair and neck and the back of his arms slightly burnt, Coffin turned to find that escape through the door leading to the stairs was impossible, and he jumped through an open window to the ground.