WELL ALIGHT WHEN NOTICED

King Country Chronicle, Volume XXXIII, Issue 4801, 23 June 1939, Page 5

WELL ALIGHT WHEN NOTICED

BRIGADE RENDERED HELPLESS. NO WATER AVAILABLE. The fire was first noticed by Mr. W. Andrews, and then by a member of Mr. T. Lee’s fanyly. By that time the flames were bursting through the top of the centre of the crushed lime works. The only telephone in the vicinity was that in the Company’s office, a separate building, and the men were forced to break a panel in the door to gain entrance and give the word to the telephone exchange to sound the alarm.

By this time the fire had obtained a very firm hold, and although the Brigade arrived promptly, even had water been available it seems doubtful that anything could have been saved.

Assistance was given Mr. J. M. Wilson, the manager the works, to push a lime-loaded truck from under the loading hopper. Before it had cleared the building the tarpaulin caught on fire, and spectators at the fire noticed what appeared to be a railway truck on fire a short distance from the blazing building.

Spectacular Blaze

The blaze was a most spectacular one. Machinery situated in the building crashed to the floor amid a shower of sparks and falling timber as its supports were burnt away, and the towering storage hopper at one side of the building poured forth a stream of lime and stones as the flooring and sides were burnt. Fortunately all the explosives are stored apart from the works in separate little structures, but there was at least one fairly large explosion, apparently caused by benzine or compressed air.

The centre portion of the building and that next to the kilns was burnt to the ground very rapidly, though the piles of bags and debris remained blazing for several hours. Spectacular crashes of blazing timber and iron were witnessed as first one part and then another of the structure fell to the ground. The heavy timbers in the hoppers took by far the longest to be brought down by the flames. Protected by the large quantity of lime and metal inside, it was not until a long time after the main portion of the building was down that this finally subsided. While it was steadily burning the flames were working along the long arm of the building leading to the quarry.

Valuable Machinery in Fire

A large quantity of very valuable machinery was destroyed in the flames. These included three grinding mills, two giratory crushers, six large electric motors, a large generator and a large quantity of subsidiary machinery, such as elevators, air pumps, screens, pulleys and belting. A large number of lime sacks were consumed in the flames. An estimate of the damage at the present time is not possible, save to say that it must run into many thousands of pounds. The plant and building, it is understood, are insured, but details are not available. It is not thought likely, however, that the insurances will cover the loss.

The works are capable of turning out up to 150 tons of lime a day working at top pressure, and have latterly been running on an output of some 400 tons a week. The lime season is now over, and during the last three weeks or so orders have

shown a tendency to slacken off. This resulted in there being an unusually large quantity of lime on hand in the building. The headquarters of the company are in Auckland.

Men Lose Employment

Quite a number of men employed at the works arrived on the job this morning not knowing of the fire, and some had to be paid off. What the number of men will be who will have to be put out of work cannot be known as yet for they are interchangeable between the carbonate and the burnt lime works.

The operation of the burnt lime works is temporarily handicapped by the fact that the railway line leading to it has been blocked by the falls of lime, metal, and sheet iron from the burnt building, and it will be a day or so before it cools sufficiently to permit it to be cleared away. Whether the lime burning operations will be continued depends, of course, upon the decision of the company, but as the units are almost entirely separate it is believed locally that this will be done, thus alleviating to some extent the unemployment that must result from the fire.

Only a comparatively small crowd witnessed the blaze, the most spectacular in Te Kuiti in recent years. The rainy night and the fact that the scene of the fire was situated over a mile south of the town deterred the majority from attending. Practically all at the fire came in cars, though a few of the hardier spirits braved the night on bicycles. Had the wind sprung, up it must have resulted in the destruction of the lime kiln buildings, but fortunately, though what wind there was tended in that direction, it was light during the period the flames were at their height. Little rain fell at the time, but the fire was so fierce that it is unlikely that even a heavy downpour would have checked it appreciably. The Borough water main runs through the back of the lime works property, but is only tapped by a small pipe.