ANOTHER BLAZE IN THE SQUARE.

Manawatu Standard, Volume XLI, Issue 8858, 28 April 1909, Page 5

ANOTHER BLAZE IN THE SQUARE.

THE MALCOLM FURNISHING COMPANY. PREMISES BADLY GUTTED^ STOCK RUINED. ANOTHER GOOD" "STOP" BY THE BRIGADE. Shortly before midnight last might a fire broke out in the back portion of the Malcolm Furnishing Company's large warehouse in the Square. Before the,bell had ceased to sound the .alarm. the vivid glare of the flames told that they had obtained a strong hold and had already burst through the roof and windows. The seat of the trouble was especially favourable to a fierce conflagration. Close at hand was the polishing room, filled with highly inflammable varnishes, and the upholstering department, with its litter of materials to feed the greedy flames. The Brigade was quickly on the scene, and running two leads of hose up the Fitzherbert Street right-of-way, began their attack right at the heart of the trouble. The fire was a particularly difficult one. The burning materials produced volumes of suffocating smoke 'which poured through the long narrow building in dense masses, and made it extremely difficult for the plucky firemen to work, and more difficult to estimate,: the extent to which the flames had eaten their way into the building. The fire soon began to work along towards the front shop, which afforded a natural funnel and created a forced draught, so that the smoke poured out of the front of the building in a steady, dense mass, which made it utterly impossible for the spectators to judge the progress of the fight. . The Brigade, however, was working strenuously and intelligently, and aided by a splendid flow of water soon made an impression on the fiercelyburning furnace. Their first jets of water were poured in through the back door, some of the men forcing their way right into the mass of flame and smoke. Then an entrance was made by a second body of men on the eastern side of the building by a window in the centre 'of the wall, and the Brigadesmen went in regardless of danger and poured a strong volume of water on to the flames from that point. The third attack was made from the Square frontage, when one of the Fitzherbert Street leads was taken round and dragged through the choking smoke in the front shop. By 12.20. after considerable battling, it became evident that the Brigade had obtained the mastery, and that the baffled flames were gradually giving way before the three steady streams of water. But the fire had gripped the building and the susceptible materials comprising the stock with a strong and comprehensive grip, and although it was evident at 12.30 that danger of a further spread was past, yet" the Brigade had still to continue their fight for a long time, and it was not till three o'clock this morning that the enemy was sufficiently subdued to allow the roll-call to be made and the men to be dismissed. Superintendent Warner .and his men must again be complimented on their prompt and capable work. Had the fire once got a strong hold on_ the building there would have been little chance of saving the surrounding premises. On the one side the '•'Standard" Office was filled with dense smoke, but the brick walls of the mechanical and editorial departments undoubtedly stopped the pro-r gress on the western side of the burning building, as it was right up ! against the seat of the fire. At the rear of the eastern side • there was fortunately no building, and the firemen were thus able to get at the flames Avith a free hand. The front portion of the "Standard" Office—a wooden building—had a very narrow escape, an examination this morning showing that the flames were stopped just as they were eating their way •through (on the roof of the front office.

THE DAMAGE. Black ruin, complete and comprehensive, is the result of the conflagration. The workshop, where the fire originated, and where the fiercest fight took place, was filled with a large stock of cabinet-making" and upholstering requisites, while a number of newly-arrived and unopened cases of chairs, mirrors, etc., were piled up within its walls. This morning there is nothing but a blackened pile of odds and ends of chairs, carpets, washstands, and mirrors, all ruined completely. Then in the large shop the scene is almost as bad. The flames made merry <. with the fancy carpets and linoleums, and respected neither crockery, which has been transformed into rich brown glazed patterns, nor the many varieties of upholstered and polished furniture, which, where not ruined by flame, are scorched with heat or covered thick with a sticky A slimy coating composed of smoke and water. Even in the upstairs portion over the front shop, where the flames did not reach, the heat and smoke has wrought ruin in a manner which would have been thought impossible by those inexperienced in the ways of fire and smoke. A coating of smoke dust, in some cases nearly a, quarter of an inch thick, has settled on everything, and remains unremovable. In the shop a good deal of damage was prevented by the brigade piling up the furniture and throwing tarpaulins over it, but though flame and water- were, thus kept off, the smoke and heat crept under the protection and left their ineffacable marks on everything. The brigadesmen were much perturbed during the fiercest part of the fight by the suspicious looks of a large barrel standing in the hottest part of the flames. Had they .knownits contents they would probably have been more apprehensive still, for it was half-filled with methylated spirits! The miracle is that this combustible fluid went through the fire without exploding. Had the explosion occurred the back wall of the building would' Surely have beeti blown out, and then there would have been something like a blaze! ■ ■ The stock was insured for £1850: — New Zealand £500, Norwich Union £500, Standard £500, and Alliance £350. The building, which- was. owned by Mr T. Childs, was insured in the Alliance for £750. Mr Malcolm estimates the value of his stock at over £4000, and as the whole of it iV either completely ruined or badly- damaged there is likely to be considerable loss.

FIRES ELSEWHERE. (Ptcb Pwtcrp AsanoiATiON.i GISBORNE, April 28. Mrs Reid's store at Tologa Bay was destroyed by fire. Nothing was saved* 'The cause is unknown. The insurance is- £600 on the pt-ock in the Norwich Union and £250 on the

building in the Liverpool, London and Globe. TIMARU, April 28. The insurances', on. Radcliffe's factory were:—£3oo on the stock and £350 on the building. The loss* is estimated at £150 on the building and £100 on the stock. ■