A DESTRUCTIVE FIRE.

Hawera & Normanby Star, Volume LXII, Issue LXII, 29 April 1912, Page 5

A DESTRUCTIVE FIRE.

CENTRAL HOTEL. McGKUER, BONE AND CO.'S SHOP.. INADEQUATE WATER SUPPLY. *££%%% siz^ tie A? S\< r^ nd the establishment of Messrs McGruer, Bone and Co., draSa'^ bei ng comPletely destroyed Ihe fire originated in the "hotel. fl Jni 1 £ 9 onroy ' a b°arder, wasawakened about 4.50 o'clock by dense* smoke m his room. He got up anl f, ou»d breaking througii from the, bUhard rop m and the store^om, downSp at,, r S UICW a-roused the lice«iWt™ 5f rCi ay Harrington, Mrs Harnngton, the boarders and the servants »W r ; the Mntral fl«stetiThe Brigade turned out promptly and under Superintendent J P Keen soon got to work with a couple of leads! But the brigade were considerably handicapped by a poor water supply, the pressure being very small. In one instance the water would not reach above the verandah. A strong westerly wind was blowing at the time, and the flames, fanned by the wind, spread with remarkable rapidity In a very short time the wholebuildmg was one roaring furnace, the lire already having obtained a firm hold" by the time the brigade arrived. Thebrigade tackled the outbreak manfully but were powerless to do any good with the poor water pressure," and the building was destroyed in something like fifty minutes. When the fire was at its fiercest, the heat was so intense that it cracked the* plate glass windows of Messrs McGruer Bone and Co.'s premises on the^ opposite corner. The windows contained blankets, and these were snort alight. A strong wind «-.o<, s +in h]rr,-_ mg. which greatly assisted the flames m their destructive work. The brigade, seeing that it was impossible to save the hotel, concentrated their eftorts on McGruer, Bone and <^o. s premises. Unfortunately they were unable to extinguish the' blazs, winch soon enveloped the building, and m less than forty minutes, only the brick walls of the building remained. -By sis o'clock the two corners were a mass of burning debris and ruins, only the brick walls and chimneys beino- left standing. * & There ivas an IS-inch brick wall separating McGruer, Bone and Co.'s shop irom Mr Bach's saddlery premises. Had it not been -for this wall the wholeblock might have gone, under the conditions prevailing at the time—the westerly gale and ineffective water pressure As it was the upper storey of Mr Bach s shop did catch alight, but the brigade subdued the flames before they got too strong a hold. , ,^X hen the fire was at ]ts height irr McGruer, Bone and Co.'s. it was noticed that the premises of Mr Tonkin, baker on the opposite side of High street were alight on the upper storey. A lead of hose was brought over, biit the water would not even reach to the verandah A ladder was procured and a fireman got on to the roof of the verandah -bven then it was with difficulty the, water reached the flames. The distance that the water rose above the nozzle o£ the hose at this time was not more than. eight feet. The Bank of Australasia and three of the shops facing the Central Hotel were scorched, while the windows were cracked with the heat. The orisrin of the fire is a mystery. The billiard room was leased to Mr John Greavey, hairdresser, who had a fare m the grate in this room on the previous evening, but he states that the fire was about out when he left the ' premises at 10 p.m. The licensee and his wife retired to bed at 11.30, and as far as they know there was no one in the billiard room. after Mr Greavey left. The storeroom was near the billiard room and no> one was in this room after 10 o'clock The nightwatchman, Mr R. Burke, passed the hotel shortly after 10 o'clock on Saturday night, when everything appeared to be quite safe. There was then no sign of fire. He was near the hoteh at four o'clock on the Sunday morning—an hour before the outbreak was discovered—and he did not notice any sign of smoke or fire. A local milk vendor is said to have seen what he thought to be" a chimney ablaze about four o'clock in the morning, in the direction of the hotel. The inmates of the hotel "had barely time to escape in their night attire and practically lost everything. Nothing was saved from either the hotel or from the drapery shop. The proprietors of the latter will be heavy losers. The telegraph, telephone and electric light wires were considerably damaged and a couple of the poles were burned. As a result 130 subscribers to the telephone exchange were disconnected. The employees of the various departments were early astir and all connections were restored by nightfall. The electric light was on about six o'clock. The water was concentrated to thebusiness area, yet it was a mere trickle,., and although the brigadesmen did their best, they were utterly unable to cope with the outbreaks. A fireman informed a reporter that when the brigade first arrived on the scene they had difficulty in locating one of the'fire pings, jgiich had beeri covered with metal dnr■fcgtfierecent operations in Higß had to be used to> around the lid on the. be lifted. the Cenin