A BIG BLAZE

Hawera Star, Volume XLVIII, 11 December 1924, Page 5

A BIG BLAZE

BOARDING-HOUSE IN FLAMES. OCX? CP ANTS ’ NARROW ESCAPE. HEAVY DAMAGE. (UY TELEGRAPH- — PH ESS ASSOCIATION .) AUCKLAND, Dec. 10. Twenty people sleeping in a board-ing-house at No. 4, Waitemata Street, Ponsonby, narrowly esoaiped suffocation when a fire broke out in the premises somewhere about one o'clock this morning, the outbreak completely destroying the house and praeticaly gutting the houses on either side. There were many thrilling moments, .seven boarders having to escape from the- top storey by means of a fire escape, which was in flames before the last man got down. The' house where the .' fire started was a three-storeyed wooden building, with numerous little windows and turrets. The of the establishment, was Mr; • Peiklie, who, with his .wife and several occupants, slept on the SI omul floor. The rest of the boarders occupied rooms on the second and third floors, there being twenty apartments altogether. Aboufi i. 15 a.m. Edward McGuiiiness, who . occupied a room adjacent to tile kitchen, was awakened by stifling, fumes and smoke in liis bedroom. Staggering to the door he discovered a mass of flames in the kitchen. The next moment h© was rushing from room to room shoutin'? “fire” and shaking the sleeping occupants into consciousness, but so firm a hold had the flames that they licked out of the kitchen and up the stairs before the whole household had been awakened. Those on the ground and first and seccmd floors quickly snatched overcoats or wraps, and then had to run downstairs for their lives. By the time the'people on the top floor were roused there was but one way of escape for them, and that was by a luclder down the side of the house. There were four young . women and three young men in the rooms there and the time was so short that one man had only time to. throw a pair oi trousers out of the window. The •women were quickly assisted to the fire escape, but the shock was so severe that one of them fainted and had to be carried down the ladder. So quickly did the fire spread throughout the house that before the last man had climbed down to safety the ladder Was 'beginning to burn, but everybody had got' out of the building, which, it was easy to see, was doomed. A strong breeze from the sea fanned the flames, which roared furiously as they consumed the dry timber and furnishings, bedding and all the personal belongings of the men, women and children, who weve standing shivering amd fearful’in the street. Once everyone was clear of the house Johnston, one of the boarders, raced up to the Ponsonby Post Office, where he rang the fire alarm. However, r lady boarder (Miss Brown) reeolleetec that there was actually a fire alarn in the street, and she hurried to it getting her cal! in ten seconds alieai of Johnston. The brigade was sum . mohed exactly twelve minutes aftei McGuiuness had discovered the outbreak. Even in the short- space o', twelve minutes, however, the fire hai made tremendous progress, and the houses oil either side of the boardinghouse were well aiiglit. Some of tin men rushed to the neighbours and gave the alarm, in No. 6 Waitemata Street lived Albert Crow, his wife, hi; mother-in-law and a niece. Thei. bedrooms faced the fire and the windows. were cracking and - 'the-woodwork burning when they jumped out of bed There was but little time to put oi a‘ few clothes before the house wa; \vell alight. However, several article? of furniture were (.ariied out of tin dining room before it was impossihh to stay hear the house. The moto garage went up in smoke in a fev, minutes, but by good luck the ear wa: not there. The other house which was burnin; was a new bungalow in the lasi stages of completion. Rolls of wall paper were lying in one of the rooms and the place would soon have beei ready for occupation. The fire de stroyed practically the whole house although the portion further from tffi boarding-house was not completed burned, and the roof held. • Neighbours were aroused, by shivering boarders thundering at thei doors. The occupants of “Merivale,’ a good-sized house exactly opposite the partially built bungalow, were alarmed by a woman’s screams ant the beating of fists oh their fronl door. Mr. and Mrs. L. Blythe am Mrs. Nelson, who occupied the house hurried, to the door. On opening ii they found a woman lying on the verandah in a dead faint. They carried her indoors and placed her ii safety. The boarding-house was owned by G. H. Guy. being insured for £2500 of which £I3OO was held in the London and Lancashire Office and £I2(X in the State Office. The furniturt ivas owned by the occupier, Mr. Ped die, and was insured for £560 in tin New Zealand Office. The house oi the east- side of the boarding-house which was burnt, was insured with it: contents for £IO6O in the Sun Office several hundred pounds below the actual loss. The thin} house destroyed was owned liv A. P. Young bein«: covered for £BSO in Oie Stan- • dnH Office. This dwelling was not : completed.