CH. CH. FIRE MANIACS

Greymouth Evening Star, 3 August 1929, Page 7

CH. CH. FIRE MANIACS

PETROL STORE OUTRAGE BRIGADE’S DANGEROUS TASK (Per Press Association.) CHRISTCHURCH, August 2. The petrol fire was still blazing fiercely at 11.30 p.m. The firemen are busy playing water on the burning mass. They have little hope of extinguishing the flames before all the petrol has burned, but at the bottom of the pile there are a number of big drums of motor spirit, which must almost inevitably explode soonei’ or later. The hope of the firemen is to keep the temperature of the mass as low as possible, to- delay the explosion, hoping that if or when the drums ignite, there will be as little as possible of other burning petrol about. The risk of serious damage is not yet. passed. No one has been badly hurt yet, but the firemen hourly run serious risks. ANOTHER ATTEMPT FAILS CHRISTCHURCH, August 2. Only fortunate circumstances thwarted an endeavoui’ by incendiarists to burn down the premises of Adams Ltd., High Street on Thursday night, when the big oil fire broke out. Had the attempt succeeded, the whole centre of the city would have been in danger. The iron grating over - the door of the strong room at the rear of the premises was wrenched off, and a quantity of blazing paper thrown in, but fortunately the petrol stored there, which it was obviously intended to ignite, escaped the flames. The discovery of the attempt to destroy the place was not made till yesterday morning. Had there been any oil or inflammable liquid on the floor it certainly would have been ignited, and the resulting- blaze might have spread dangerously.

VIGILANCE COMMITTEE CHRISTCHURCH, Aug. 3. While the fire at the oil store of Brown & Co. was raging yesterday, steps were taken by the City Council’s chief inspector of dangerous goods to seize all petrol stored outside the main building. This was in pursuance of the authority conferred on the City Council by the Dangerous GoQds Act, in cases where the quantity stored is in excess of that permitted. As the result of the incendiarism it has been suggested that the City Council, Chamber of Commerce and Progress League should co-operate in the formation of a vigilance committee to assist the police authorities. Another suggestion made is that two hundred special constables should be sworn in to assist in patrolling the city and suburbs.