FIRE IN LONDON.

Lyttelton Times, Volume CXIV, Issue 16431, 24 December 1913, Page 9

FIRE IN LONDON.

OUTBREAK IN WEST END FLATS

FIREMEN'S HEROIC WORK. By Telegraph—Press Association—Copyright. LONDON, December 22. A fire occurred in the Park Mansions flats at Knightsbrido;o early this morning. The occupants of the sixth floor wero rescued by means of ladders. A charred body has been found. Tho fire is the largest in the West End sinco the Carlton Hotel blaze. Inmates of the Knightsbridge flats wero aroused by the shouts of onlookers in the street. Three maid-servants in their nightdresses took refuge on the roof. A fireman climbed ladders two hundred feet high to the screaming women, who threatened to jump unless they wero rescued immediately. They were finally rescued singly on a swaying ladder while tho two upper storeys blazed furiously. A waiter named Edwards died when returning to secure some money. A housemaid states that whilo escaping down a corridor in suffocating smoko she •heard Edwards, the waiter, stumble and fall helpless. She dragged him until the flames mid smoko overpowering her, obliged her to leave him. Tho firemen's heroic efforts in scaling the building held the spectators spellbound.