Another Greymouth Theatre Building Menaced By Fire

Greymouth Evening Star, 1 August 1947, Page 6

Another Greymouth Theatre Building Menaced By Fire

Exactly a fortnight, almost to the hour, after the loss of the Greymouth Town Hall by fire, an outbreak was discovered in its incipient stages in another Greymouth theatre, the Opera House, this morning Official comment upon this second theatre fire is guarded, but members of the staff of the Opera House consider that a deliberate attempt was made to burn the building.

The fire was located at the southwest rear corner of the Opera House building, underneath the stage, where a pile of papers had been temporal’- ■ ily stored. It was discovered about 7.30 a.m. by Mr A. Grogan, when he arrived to open the adjacent cordial factory, and he gave the alarm. When Mr Grogan arrived, the fire had burnt two small holes through the rear wall of the Opera House and had just begun to spread along the flooring of the stage. The Greymouth and Cobden Fire Brigades were quickly on the scene, and the fire was extinguished within a few minutes, with one lead of hose. Little damage was caused to the building.

Arson Suspected. “There was nothing within yards to cause a fire to start among those papers,” said Mr W. Connors, a member of the theatre staff this morning. “It looks to me to be a deliberate attempt to fire the building. No one had been under the stage since yesterday afternoon when the papers were put there and no one had authority to be there.” The fire started just inside a door leading from the yard at the back of the theatre to under the stage. This door was not locked, but was merely fastened with a turn catch, of wood. Although the papers which were the seat of the outbreak were on the ground, there was a patch of fire higher up the wall, over a cross beam, which itself was not burnt. It appeared as if the fire had started in two places at the same time. The manager of the theatre, Mr A. Beban (who was the lessee of the Town Hall) was also of the opinion this morning that there were suspicious circumstances surrounding the fire. He pointed out that the damaged wall was too far from the street for the cause to be ascribed to a thrown-away cigarette butt or match, and he confirmed Mr Connors’ statement that there was nothing underneath the stage to set the papers alight.

Night-Watchman Appointed

Following the loss ot the Town Hall, the proprietors of the Opera House, West Coast Amusements, Ltd, decided that additional fire precautions were necessary and appointed a night-watchman to sleep on the premises. Pending the furnishing -of suitable quarters, however, the new employee had not taken up his night duties. He will, however, commence his watching duties tonight.

The superintendent of the Greymouth Fire Brigade, Mr T. Mclntosh, said that his first examination failed to disclose the origin of the fire, except that it had begun in a pile of papers which, in themselves, were a fire hazard.

.. “There is nothing so far to show how the. fire started and' we are making full inquiries,” said the Inspector- of Police, Mr M. J. Angland, in reply to an inquiry whether incendiarism was suspected. He added that the inquiries concerning the recent Town Hall fire had not yet been completed. There are many coincidences surrounding the two theatre fires. Both of them were discovered early on a Friday morning and preliminary investigations led to the belief that the Town Hall fire also had its origin underneath the stage. The Opera House is an old wooden building and, had the fire not been discovered early, it would have presented the brigade with a major fire-fighting problem..