DISASTROUS FIRE

King Country Chronicle, Volume XXXII, Issue 4640, 16 May 1938, Page 5

DISASTROUS FIRE

LARGE BUILDING TOTAL LOSS. EQUIPMENT BURNT. Fire completely beyond the control of six brigades swept through a large four-storeyed brick building owned by the Paterson Estate, in Kitchener Street,. Auckland, shortly after 10 o’clock last night. From roof to basement the building, which housed the premises of several firms, was a mass of flames, and at midnight firemen were still Engaged in vain efforts to suppress the outbreak, the cause of which is unknown.

Damage is estimated to be between £50,000 and £75,000. The building is a total loss, and with it was destroyed the valuable equipment belonging to five companies; Motor vehicles and bodies under construction were among the goods destroyed.

The firms housed in the building are:—D.C.S. and Cousins, Ltd., motor-body builders; Walter Long, engineer; The New Zealand Case and Box Company, Ltd.; The Dominion Woodwool Company; Mervyn Abel, steel pulley manufacturer.

Not for a long time has Auckland seen so fierce a conflagration as that of last night. Located just below the crown of the Princes Street ridge, the glare of the fire could be seen for miles in every direction, and was reported from as far away as Pukekohe. Spectators on the heights of Parnell at one stage saw great sheets of flame far above the roofs of the Northern Club and the Grand Hotel.

Combustion within the buildings was so intense that there was no great volume of smoke, but the column, light in colour, rose over a wide area and the flames below illuminated it to a height of several hundred feet. i