Ballantyne’s Fire— Searching Questions To Brigade Officer

Greymouth Evening Star, 24 February 1948, Page 2

Ballantyne’s Fire — Searching Questions To Brigade Officer

/p #A .) CHRISTCHURCH, February 23. ’ Third Officer James Thomas Burrows, of the Christchurch Fire Brigade, who was first in charge of fire-fighting operations a tyne’s fire, was in the witness box for three hours and three-quarten> today giving evidence to the Royal Commission. His examma y the Crown, Mr G. G. G. Watson leading, was not completed when tin, commission adjourned till tomorrow.

Points in the evidence of Officer Burrows were: he expected the electric extension ladder, which did not arrive till after the brigade call was made .at 4 o’clock, to follow him at 3.46; no information as to which part of the cellar was concerned was sought from Mr Roger Ballantyne: the fire escape and opening between Goodman’s and Pratt’s buildings were not seen by him; no leads were prepared in Colombo street or activity shown in the alley entrance to Congreve’s cellar during his absences on a tour of the building; there was an overlapping of control in Cashel street by the time the fire had been covered; techniques in fighting a cellar fire had not been followed.

reached the street frontage, a flash- j by took place, and flames leapt at the £ back of Goodman’s building to Piatts < building. < Magnitude Of Fire ] In the six minutes or so they were , there, could a lead have been directed efficiently on to any thing in the 3 alley?—Yes. They could have opened , up an entrance by playing the hose on the brick wall. Witness said he saw no flames m 3 Congreve’s building. The hose was j i then being directed into Goodman s : building on the ground floor. The ( flame was at the rear. Flame was m ( the first floor of Pratt’s building, . making its way along Colombo street , to Cashel street. No flame was then visible on the ground floor. Mr Watson: Was that your first i realisation that you had a fire of the first magnitude on your hands? Yes. Burrows said he then ordered all possible leads to be put out, a brigade call to be put through, and a lead to be put into Cashel street. He went with Ballantyne along Colombo street to the Cashel street entrance, said Officer Burrows. He did not notice the fire escape or the Separation of Pratt’s and Goodmansbuilding. Mr Watson: Was it necessary to look at the adjacent buildings and openings?—That is correct, but I was dealing with an ordinary cellar fire. A cellar fire is a slow burning fire, with sufficient time to make an inspection as to the best method of extinguishing the fire. I went down Colombo street under the verandah and did not see the opening or fire escape. . ~ . ~ He was shown the way through the building to the goods lift shaft, Officer Burrows continued. At no stage did he see or smell any signs of smoke. He looked down the shaft and saw no smoke. He would say that definitely, in spite of what Roger Ballantyne said. He did not attempt to go down, although he had been taken there as a means of access, because there was no sign of smoke, and he though the actual seat ol the fire was well away from the shaft. He then decided to go back to the scene of the cellar fire. He left the shop at a “jog trot.” He noticed no smoke in the shop. On reaching Congreve’s building, he looked up. Smoke had markedly increased. Not Appreciated Mr Watson: Did you appreciate then that you might be on the verge ‘ .of a major catastrophe?—No Sir. Witness said he gave orders to prepare delivery with a large nozzle, ’ and placed it through a window. Did you feel satisfied that by that delivery you would be able to control L the cellar fire?—No. It was to cool ' down the atmosphere and gas below the combustion stage. Up to that point had any one else investigated the first floor as to the condition of heat, smoke, etc?—Nd. Had anybody from the brigade in- ) vestigated the conditions of heat on 5 the ground floor immediately above 1 the cellar? —No. 2 lam advised by experts that the 1 proper technique in a case such as □ this is not only to feel the heat but 2 to hack a hole through the floor and - put a delivery through at the part? —That is correct.

Search For Access

Officer Burrows said that as soon as he entered the right of way, he went down on his hands and knees from eight to ten feet in from the pavement, and crawled up the right of way. He got down to feel his way, as in the black smoke a man was like a blind man. If Roger Ballantyne and Falkingham were with him, they could not have seen him, because the smoke was so thick they could not have got up the alleyway without a respirator. Ballantyne (who said that he went up the right of way twice) could not have gone up with him. Officer Stevenson, and Fireman Thompson, had preceded him up the alleyway. They entered while he was at the machine, and Ballantyne could not have gone with them. He did not know he had to go across the door before he reached the head of the cellar, and he made no inquiries whether there was access to the cellar from the ground, or whether the cellar was connected m any way with the adjacent cellar. He was not concerned about finding a way into the cellar. As Ballantyne said the doorway was right, he felt the right-hand wall until he came past two bicycles andjie moved into the centre to avoid other obstacles. The door would not be visible in the smoke but if there was fire, the glow could have been seen. Mr Watson (for the Crown): Could you see whether there was a door in the wall? —No. You realise that that means you cannot tell whether you had reached or passed the entrance to the cellar. —I realise that. Were you really looking for. a red glow of fire when you went up the right of way.?—Yes. , And you were not looking for the access doors at all? —I was rea l Y making an inspection to see the condign because Officer Stevenson, Fireman Thompson and Fireman Shaw were up the right of way. What caused you to turn back, i knew Officer Stevenson had two firemen 'with him, and could deal with that part of the cellar. Nothing caused you to come out. No. I Further Investigations

Witness said his next move was to make further investigations wheie another entrance could be found. An officer and two men were left inth. alley when he left. He did not then consider questions of access to the cellar from inside the stairway or the adjoining cellar. He. did not ask Ballantyne those questions. Mr Watson: As a fireman with 24 years’ experience, would you have been concerned if you had /uown there was an open stairway leadm*, from the ground floor?-Yes. And an open way leading from this cellar to the adjoining one?--Yes. They would have magnified thrisk of a rapid spread of the fire.— Is it not one of the first duties of the officer in charge on amval at a fire to investigate the b ullc J. in J’ close proximity to the seat of flies. Tl ln the C °discharge of that duty, did it. not occur to you to go into the doorway of Goodman’s building to <’ee if you could reach Con & re\es ground floor?—I was taken past there, and I iuclged f there was no entrance to Congreve s building. But you knew Ballantyne s was used as one big shop?—No. He said the 30ft ladder was used in the attempted rescue of the girs in Goodman’s building. One sphcm| ladder was used to get on to the verarfdah in Cashel street. At time before the rescue of Ken Bai lantyne was the 20ft ladder used. He had not known that the electuc extension ladder was not going to& the firp He expected it to follow, as ir was uni tor it to go to fires >n that area. ~, x Delivery Of Water

Was there at any time, from the beginning to end, any attempt made by anybody in the brigade to hack a hole in the floor of Congreve’s building to put a delivery into Congreve’s cellar? —No. Why was not that done? —It was my intention to knock in a shop window front and hack a hole through the floor. That was my next attack. You have heard many witnesses say that the police drew attention of firemen to the plight of the girls in the millinery workroom. Did anyone draw your attention? —No.

What was the first you saw or heard of girls being trapped in the millinery workroom? —After girls had jumped from windows, I saw a ladder up to Goodman’s building. It was burning. I was told that two girls had been up there, and they had tried to rescue them, but they had gone to a window further down. Witness said the length of the Ajax ladder (30 feet) was too short to reach the girls by four of five feet.

Rescue Question But if the fireman had stood up he could have reached the girls? It would have been precarious as he would have been on the top rung. But the alternative was death to people in the building, and the chance should have been taken? suggested Mr Watson. “Yes,” said witness. Mr Watson then turned from the girls trapped in Goodman’s building to two girls who jumped to safety from Pratt’s building, and asked: Il someone had the initiative to get a carpenter’s ladder and put it on the verandah, was there any reason why a spliced or Ajax ladders were not used to reach the girls?—No. Could not an Ajax ladder or a spliced ladder have been used foi these girls from the ridge of the verandah? —It would have been too long to estbalish ladders and reach the girls. But suppose an attempt had started earlier, when the girls firs' appeared?—ln my opinion, it would have taken too long from when I first saw them. . .. If an Ajax ladder was footed in the outside gutter of the verandah, it would have reached the girls. What was to prevent the girls being reach" ed if someone had had the initiative? —Nothing at all if the gyttei would have taken the strain of th ladder. Can you suggest any reason why no member of the _ Fire Brigade, when confronted with the gins trapped in the window, did not try to place an Ajax ladder in the guttei of the verandah? —No. . The only possible reason being the gutter not holding?—Yes, and the shortage of time we had. If there was a fireman and a girl on the ladder and it carried away, there would have been a catastrophe again. •“That was the' risk that would have to be taken?” asked Mr Watson. “Yes,” replied Burrows. Ken Ballantyne was guided down a ladder by officer Shah, under his own power.

Mr Watson: If you had thought it necessary to apply a water delivery tc) ti e first floor to cool down, was Sere not a greater necessity toapgy water on the ground floor near tne Sat of flre?-Yes. But we could not get in there. m Would there have been any difficulty in putting a cooling down delivery through a window on the r round floor?—We could have broken a window and put it through th You have not hesitated to break a window normally? No. Knowing that the fire was in the basement, and that the time had arrived when you should cover it, did you, after ordering that delivery be put in, make any inspection or investigation of adjoining areas to see whether there were openings or ex posures through which the fire could SP Is a it not N o°ne of the primary duties? Vpq If you did not do it, what was your reason? —As I put delivy through a window, I again 7 gated the right of way to see what progress Officer Stevenson haa made & the object of making a line of attack through the ground floor of Congreve’s building. . Is it fair to say that you assumed that you did not expect it to progress beyound the cellar fire?—Not up to What were Officer Stevenson and the fireman doing in the alley when you went in?—l discovered that they had not been successful m finding an entrance to the cellar. As I came down the alley I felt the line of hose being pulled back quickly, and, as .