FIRE AT WHARF

Manawatu Standard, Volume LVII, Issue 157, 4 June 1937, Page 9

FIRE AT WHARF

OUTBREAK AT AUCKLAND. CROWD BLOCKS TRAFFIC. Per Press Association. AUCKLAND, June 3. Screaming sirens and the roar of two speeding fire engines caused excitement among crowds in the city streets shortly after 5 o’clock this evening. A fire which caused damage estimated at several hundreds of pounds had broken out in the Auckland Harbour Board’s gear locker in a shed on Queen’s Wharf. Trains stretched in two long stationary queues in Queen Street, while motor vehicles nil drew to the kerb to give the engines a clear path. A crowd quickly gathered, but the wharf gates were closed. People stood on the roadwav and traffic was temporarily blocked. Rumour was rife, and it was freely whispered that one of the large overseas ships in port was on fire. Smoke could be seen rising against the spars of the passenger liner Monowai, which is completing her recommission, at the , end of the quay. The fire, however, j was confined to a small loft in one corner of the roof of shed No. 16. Apparently starting in a locker full of old paints, the flames had spread quickly and piles of cotton waste, eoik lifebelts and ropes were all ablaze. With several leads of hose the firemen had the outbreak under control within halt an hour. The most serious damage was the charring of a new 16in manila towing hawser which had not yet been used. One of the massive rope fenders which is shortly to he fitted to the bows ol one of the board’s tugs fortunately escaped the flames. Further inconvenience was caused to the harbour board when water from the hoses leaked through the floor of the loft into the harbourmaster's wharf office below. Records and log hooks were quickly removed, but the officers on watch to-night had to work under difficulties.