£1,000,000 LOSS

Gisborne Herald, Volume LXXII, Issue 21602, 3 January 1945, Page 4

£1,000,000 LOSS

DISASTROUS FIRE PALMERSTON BLAZE MILITARY* EQUIPMENT (P.A.) PALMERSTON N.. Jan. 2. Military material valued at over £1.000,000, according to semi-official estimates, was destroyed by fire shortly after midnight on Sunday. The event also ushered in a disastrous New Year for the Manawaf.u A. and P. Association, in whose spacious halls the material had been stored ever since the threat of the Japanese invasion. The military .have had all the showground buildings crammed with equipment, supplying from there the needs of camps situated at the southern end of the North Island, with the exception of Wellington. Everything needed to equip a soldier and a camp, with the exception of ammunition and food, was there, and it was in the heart of this immense storehouse that a small firo started about 11.110 o'clock on Sunday night and spread with amazing rapidity until five of the exceedingly large halls, which are practically" under •no roof, became a raging inferno beyond control. isolated Call To Brigade A rather belated call gave the Fire Brigade no chance of doing verv much except save a row of six dwellings which face Waldegrave street but back on to the showgrounds, and which were dangerously close to the fire. It was indeed fortunate that there was practically a dead calm otherwise all these houses would have gone up In smoke as well. The brigade also managed to save the administration offices of the A. and P. Association which face Cuba street, but only after tons of water had been poured into and over them. It is stated that at 11.30 p.m. a small fire was discovered in the military cookhouse and extinguished, but within the next quarter of an hour this building suddenly burst into a mass *of flames >and" the fire commenced to work towards Waldegrave street into No. 3 Hall. The brigade received the first intimation of the fire at 12.12 a.m. by messenger, and three motor engines responded. Roof Collapsed

The superintendent. Mr. P. TV. Milverton, reports that, when he arrived at the scene the fire had a good hold. Water leads were run out from Cuba and Waldegrave streets and from inside the showgrounds, where large mains had been laid years gone by to meet fire needs. The brigade made an effort to confine the outbreak to No. 3 Hall, but it just rolled along under the roof amongst the highly inflammable material inside until it enveloped both Nos. 1 and 2 Halls, and then spread to the larger produce and entertainment halls. There were 10 or 11 hoses operating and one had to be abandoned early when a roof started to collapse and the firemen dropped everything and ran for it. Water was still required as late as mid-day yesterday to extinguish the smouldering embers. By that time only I-lalls Nos. 4 and 5 were remaining intact, the remainder and the greater part of the A. and P. Association’s industrial show buildings being a heap of twisted and blackened iron under which lay the remains of over. £1,000.000 worth of military material. Huge Stocks Destroyed

Only those who had had an opportunity of seeing what the halls contained before the fire have any idea of the vast quantity of goods stored there—boots, tunics, greatcoats, underwear, shovels'and other things by the thousands. There was more hardware than is stocked bv all the merchants in Palmerston North put. together, and the ordinary housewife would have been amazed at the quantity of crockery, cutlery and household linen. Sheets and blankets were also numbered in thousands. There were tons of nails, wire and rope, to name just a few items. Rifles and machine-guns stored in Nos. 4 and 5 Hants escaped, though much water was thrown in there. It was perhaps fortunate that the fire did not happen some little time ago when the halls also housed a very large quantity of ammunition and explosives. Explosions which were heard during : the course of the fire came from paint and oil drums, there being more paint in stock at the time than is owned by all the paint merchants in Palmerston North put together. Turps and linseed oil helped the lire along, ns did also much other highly inflammable material which ' was stacked ceiling high. About a dozen lorries parked in adjacent buildings were removed to safety. The fire was Palmerston North's most spectacular of all time. It attracted a high crowd of citizens and was visible .for many miles. Being holiday time, there were only a handful of men camped on the showgrounds. The buildings were insured but • owing to the holidays the amounts were unavailable.