FATAL FIRE IN ONE OF AUCKLAND’S OLD HOMES

Grey River Argus, 21 February 1949, Page 4

FATAL FIRE IN ONE OF AUCKLAND’S OLD HOMES

Two Women Victims in Large Structure

P.A. AUCKLAND, Feb. 20 Two lives were lost when tire burned out the Dunholme Boarding House, 186 Remuera Road to-day. It was nrst discovered in -the upper storey of the building at 11.45 a.m. The fire gained a complete hold on the old wooden structure within 20 minutes. Eight of the occupants left the house when the alarm was raised, but two, who remained, were burned to death. They were:— Miss Jean Murdoch Leslie, aged about 50, part owner of the house. Miss Carrie Emily Mander, aged about 60, a guest, in the house. Only the shel lof the building reOnly the shell of the building recupants lost practically all of their belongings. The cause of the fire is not known. VICTIMS WARNED

Immediately the fire was discovered, it apparently having originated in a kitchen in the upper floor, one of the occupants, Mr E. J. Kelly, ran to Miss Leslie’s room, also on the upper floor. She was resting when Kelly entered the room and he warned her of the fire. He told her to leave immediately, and said that he was going to ring the fire station. Miss Leslie was not seen again, and her body was later found by a window.

INVALID SUFFOCATED Strenuous efforts were made in rescuing Miss Mander, who was a semi-invalid, living with Miss Leslie on the upper floor. Shortly after the fire started, she was seen by Mr E. H. R. Cross as she leaned from her window calling for help. He was unable to enter the smoke-filled building himself, and he summoned assistance. Constable Rowe, of Newmarket, accompanied by a fireman, entered the room by a ladder. The men who were wearing respirators carried Miss Mander outside. Artificial respiration and carbon dioxide treatment was administered without avail. One of Auckland’s oldest homes, the house was, until four years ago, a convalescent hospital owned by Miss Leslie and Miss R. F. Dillon. In recent years the owners had used the building as a boarding house. The lower storey was sub-divided into flats, and the owners, with Miss Mander, lived in the upstairs portion. Miss Dillon is on holiday at Taumarunui. DISCOVERY OF FIRE

Miss Dorothy Fenton was walking through the passageway in the lower storey of the house when she saw flames at the head of the staircase leading to the upper kitchen. She called to Mr Kelly, who was standing on the lower verandah with his mother, Mrs Bridget Kelly, and his brother, Mr T. A. Kelly. Mr Kelly went to the upper floor and warned Miss Leslie, and called the Remuera Fire Station.

Mr and Mrs J. R. McLeod, occupants of another downstairs flat, heard a warning from Miss E. S. MacPherson, aged about 70. Miss MacPherson had attempted to climb the stairway to warn Miss Leslie, but she had been restrained by Mr Kelly. Within three minutes of the alarm, flames had enveloped half of the stairway. When the first brigade from the Remuera Station arrived, the front of the building was a mass of flames. Leads were run out to attack this side, and when a machine from Parnell arrived, shortly after, a second attack was made from the rear of the house, from which flames were then pouring through the windows. So rapid was the spread of the fire that an urgent call for assistance was made to the Central'Fire Station, which despatched two machines, with the arrival of these reinforcements, eight leads were played

into the fire, while another delivery was played on a neighbouring house, owned by Mr R. J. Laird. In spitd of the attack, the flames carried by a fresh breeze, blistered and charred part of this house, and the occupants were forced to leave by smoke.

Roaring through the building, • the fire burst through the slate roof. Within twenty minutes the roof rapidly began to disintegrate and as the firemen pushed the attack forv»am from inside the house, the hot roof slates were forced by water jets high into the air. Falling rafters added to the hazards of the fire fighters, who were pressing the attack vigorously in the hope’ that lives could be saved. About 1 p.m., after an hour’s battle, the fire gradually came under control. Bv then only the shell of the former large building remained. With the exception of one room in the lower corner of the house, the entire buildin? was gutted by the outbreak. Immediately it became reasonably safe to conduct a search, the police and firemen went into the house. The body of Miss Leslie was found ih her room. It was lying two feet from a window, which was only about five feet from the ground at the front of the house. At this stage, all of the occupants had not been definitely accounted for ,but a complete check through the smouldering rooms revealed no other victims. BELONGINGS LOST

Most of their belongings were lost by the occupants of the house. Mr E. J. Kelly’s room was practically undamaged, but this was the only part of the house left intact. His family had planned to leave for Suva next month, and they managed to save their trunks and a sewing machine. A white budgerigar carried in a cage, and a few blankets were the only oossessions saved by Mi’ and Mrs McLeod. Miss MacPherson lost practically everything. The property owned bv' Misses Leslie and Dillon included many antiques and a small grand piano.