THE WELLINGTON FIRE

Gisborne Times, Volume VI, Issue 274, 28 November 1901, Page 3

THE WELLINGTON FIRE

A CHEAT SENSATION

JUMPING FOB LIFE— FIGHTING

THE FLAMES.

Tub f Mowing fuller report is to hand concerning the fire at Wellington on Monday

morning:— When a constable saw the flames in one of the windows of tiie top storey of the Oriental Hotel, the fire was restricted to very narrow limits, hut the dry wood ignited withsturtling rapidity, and, almost whilst lie was giving the alarm, the ilames had seized the top of the ceiling, and were were actually bursting through the roof. Then arose a scene of dread within the walls of the hotel itself. From every room it seemed on the top flat there rushed frenzied human beings, shouting for help ; for, as the bote! was full of boarders, the sceno can easily be imagined. Ono man, dazzled in his half-sleep, sprung from his bed, seized his wife and child (he does not know even now how lie did it), and then, hastily putting on somo clothes, jumped from a window, saving himself only by landing on a lean-to. Another man rushed to the door'of his room to find the Harries licking his face as ho opened it. He and a follow hoarder then leaped from the window, falling about 115 feet on to a roof below, and then to the ground. Breaking their fall saved their lives. Another man, Charles Bell, son of Mr James Bell, of the Ada Delroy Company, essayed a similar feat, but with much more serious consequences. The poor fellow struck the roof, but apparently rebounded on to a concrete landing below. It is believed he has suffered internal injuries. !

In the meantime the fire had seized the whole top portion of the building, which was of three storeys. Looking at the scene as masses of flame leaped out of tho windows and shot an immense volume upwards through the roof, it was impossible to think anybody could come out of the place alive. It was a veritable cauldron of fire.

When the brigade got to work there was a lurking fear that all the inmates had not escaped.

The brigadosmon began a valiant fight, at oneo running out their hose and hoisting a telescope ladder immediately in front of the shoot of flames, precisely where it seemed no human being could live. And a great crowd, which seemed suddenly to have sprung into life from the four corners of the earth and gathered to watch them, breathlessly, whilst even the half-naked men and women who had come out of the building forgot the peril they had just been through, and stood in the street to witness the fight with the fire. The majority of them were in their bare feet and wore scanty garments they had picked up in their panic. Some of the boarders who escaped by the back of the hotel climbed up on a hill at the back in the direction of the Terrace.

The work of the brigade was especially perilous from the fact that the top portion of the building, as the ilames spread, threatened to fall outwards and bury the men.

Two or three firemen climbed into the second storey ami entered the window with a lead of water, while the parapet immediately above their heads was hidden by ilames. It seemed to the onlookers that they had actually entered the cauld-

ron, and one was appalled at their daring, whilst lie found himself wondering liow they managed to find a foothold there. Other firemen ran into the lower storey,

and there, right beneath the ilames, and •amid showering sparks and falling beams, battled with the fire, while somo again valiantly stood on the roof of Grady’s store, in the face of scorching heat, and held their ground with the hose. Suddenly, amid cries of warning from the crowd, beams from the roof began to fall.

A mass of burning timber from one corner fell with a crash through the roof of Christsen’s shop, and, just as the brave fellows who had worked in the midst of a sheet of flame got out in time to save themselves, the remainder of the parapet toppled and then fell. Before long, the hotel was gutted, and its contents do-

stroyecl. The position of the persons sleeping on the top storey floor was one of the utmost hazard, with the flames rapidly spreading from room to room. There does not appear to have been any very clear ideas on the part of those in this portion of the house as to what moans there were of escape. Some of the boarders seem to have discovered ropes in their rooms, and these they used for descending from the windows. Others failed to discover oven this slender method of getting away, and had to adopt the perilous feat of jumping to a place of safety. The prospect of jumping from a third floor is one that at ordinary times would make even the boldest tremble, but last night the feat was accomplished with precision and with freedom from serious M Mr Aubrey Douglas, a member of the Bijou Company, occupied a room three doors from where the lire originated, having Mr Arthur Blanchard as his room mate. Mr Douglas was awakened by a cry of “ tire,” and, awakening his comimmediately WOllt to tllC tlooi. Hero lie was met by a volume of smoke and flame, which drove him back into tho room. The pair then sought to escape by the window, and, failing to And any rope, they attempted to slide down tho water pipe. This also proved impracticable, and seeing the fire was rapidly gaining strength every minute they sprang into space. They escaped with a severe

Frank Lewis, who was employed on ihe Hansard staff last session, was also •amon CT those who had to make their exit from' °the top flat. When ho became aware of the place being m flames it was too late for him to get down the stairway. Ho succeeded in lowering himself from the window by means of a rope. Miss Losuer, a barmaid, went through the same performance to reach the ground. One of the housemaids,'who tried to adopt the same means of escape, failed to get ft grasp of the rope and fell, spraining her ankle severely. The inmates were taken to the Britannia Hotel, where the scene was a sad one. Some of the refugees were injured, others half or fully dazed with fright, and all were wet, cold, and miserable. Another correspondent gives the loilowinß description:— . The fire which destroyed the OnentU Hotel this morning was one of the most sensational which has occurred m Wellington for some time. This hotel was situated in the business portion of \\ whs street, one of the main thoroughfares ot the city. It- was built over 20 years ago, and for a time was known as the Melbourne Hotel. Constructed of iron and wood, it was three storeys high m front, and ran right back to the rough rock-meed bank which juts out from Loulcott sheet. The building contained some <>o rooms, of which 40 were used as bedrooms. During the last week, the Oriental was crowded with visitors who were attending the races. All the bedrooms were mil' occupied, and there were also nine extra “ shakedowns.” Considering the inimbci of people in the hotel, it is a marvel that all the inmates escaped with their lues. From the first moment of the raising ot the alarm in the hotel, the scene became dreadful. Women screamed and men shouted. The great majority of the inmates entirely lost their presence of mind, and pandemonium prevailed. Two boarders, E. Monekton, described ■ as a photographer, and C. Buckingham, cornet player at the Theatre Loyal, gave the alarm to those within the hotel. These two. having gone upstairs late, w ere sittin- chatting in Bedroom number eleven when, according to the statement of one of them, he saw the light from an adjoining room. Monekton and Luekiu - ham roused the inmates, and Monekton, I rushing downstairs, called to the night porter, who was scrubbing one m the rooms, to come upstairs with a bucket o water The night porter hurried to the top floor, carrying a bucket of water but by this time the fire had a good hold. There seems little doubt that had Monekton and Buckingham not given the alarm so promptly, the results of the lire would have been much more seriohs. Constable ltyan, who was amongst the first on the-scene, ran in by the Aooi on Willis street which the night portei had opened, and rushed upstairs, continuing lus journey right up to the top storey.

On the second stairway, he found the smoke pretty thick, but, anxious to rouse anyone who might he sleeping or to assist those already awake, he kept on his way. “ The shrieking at this time was terrible, be suid to-day. “ Women were screaming in ail directions, and I never want to hear anything like it again.” The smoko was rapidly becoming denser, and in one place Hyan had to leap across a line of ilanie. Then a piece of wood from the ceiling fell, and struck him lightly on the arm. As the outlook was becoming distinctly perilous, Hyan, who was now beginning to choke from the smoke, beat a retreat, half running, half falling, down the stairway.