HOUSE ON FIRE

Greymouth Evening Star, 10 December 1928, Page 4

HOUSE ON FIRE

COUPLE’S NARROW ESCAPE. ) (Special to “Star.”) AUCKLAND, December 10. “We are both lucky we were not burnt alive,” was the comment of Mrs. H. Francis, when recounting the story of a fire that burnt her home and belongings at 2 o’clock this morning. Mrs. Francis was residing with her husband, H. C. H. Francis, at 59 Peary Road, Mount Eden. They retired early to bed last night, and were awakened a little before 2 a.m. by the roar of [fire. Francis opened the door leading from the bedroom into the hall, but quickly closed it again, as the hall was a mass of smoke and flame. The only eexist was a small casement window, Through this, Mrs. Francis scrambled with her husband’s help. “I really fell through the window,” stated Mrs. Francis, who was lying in bed in a neighbour’s house, suffering from bruises and shock. “I don’t quite remembei’ how I got out. My husband pushed me through the window, and I was so dazed and frightened that I can remember very little about what happened. The house was blazing fiercely, and when I came to and I remembered that I had left my purse on the table alongside the bed, I informed Mr Franciis, and he entered blazing building, through the bedroom window. I thought he would never come back, but he managed to scramble out again with the purse. That was all we saved, with the exception of my husband’s trousers, containing his week’s pay.”