SPECTACULAR FIRE IN AUCKLAND.

Manawatu Herald, Volume LVIII, Issue 5001, 7 October 1938, Page 3

SPECTACULAR FIRE IN AUCKLAND.

TWO PEOPLE HAVE NARROW ESCAPE. Auckland, October (i. 'Sweeping with amazing rapidity through the two top floors of a building at G 3 'Shortland Street, owned and occupied by G. W. Wilton and Company, Limited, a five which broke out shortly after 5 o'clock caused several thousands of pounds worth of damage to the stock of seientii/i equipment and chemicals and partly destroyed the upper portion of the building. The manager, Mr A. A. Gray, and his typist, Miss H. G. Menzies, were nearly trapped while looking for an. elderly visitor who had disappeared. Dense black smoke enveloped nearby buildings and great tongues of flame, which leaped through the roof and out of the windows, for a time threatened the . premises of Shorter’s Rental Cars, Ltd., on the western side and those of the Taka, puna Jockey Club on the other side. Immediately the seriousness of the fire was realised, all cars belonging to Shorters were hurried I j driven to safety. An alarm was given by Miss. Menzies. She said afterward, that all other employees left the building at five o’clock. Mr. Gray and the visitor, Mr. F. J. Smith, were talking in the office on the first floor overlooking Shortland Street. She went downstairs, and as she reached the bottom she was startled to see a sheet of flame issue from a 12-foot-high bin of wood at the back of the ground floor. Next minute she heard a series of explosions, apparently caused by bursting chemical bottles. Miss Menzies hurried upstairs to telephone the fire brigade and by the time she had raised the alarm, the place was filled with smoke. In the general confusion she and Mr. Gray missed Mr. Smith. They wasted precious minutes searching for him among the long rows of fixtures in the warehouse, and when they failed to find him they had to race for safety from the advancing smoke and flanie, which had bin st. up the lift well to the top floor, .and was mushrooming down the staircases. They were just in time to escape-by way of. the stairs to the ground floor and were relieved to ■ find Mr Smith had preceded them : and.was by then standing outside watching the fire. Brigades at. once attacked the , outbreak from Chancery Lane and Shortland St. Meanwhile thousands of people had blocked ‘Shortland St. down to Queen St., and emergency squads of police were rush- ■ ed to the scene to keep the people well clear of the building .since, until the arrival of the manager, it was not known whether the building held explosive chemicals. 'Shortland St), and the immediate 1 neighbourhood was enveloped in a heavy pall of black smoke and many ■bystanders suffered inflamed cv es and had their clothing drenched. Choking fumes came front burning chemicals and intense heat front the roof. . . . In spite of widespread inquiries, it could not be determined whether the premises held explosive or highly inflammable material, but the arrival of 'Mr Gray allayed the feats of the brigadesnten on this point. "Within 20 minutes it became evident that the concentrated efforts of the brigades were having an effect. The flames at the top story windows were less apparent, and all danger to adjoining buildings had passed. Bv 5.45 o’clock the ted glow had disappeared, although smoke continued to billow from all sides.