SENSATIONAL FIRE IN MELBOURNE

Manawatu Times, Volume XLIX, Issue 2311, 2 December 1925, Page 9

SENSATIONAL FIRE IN MELBOURNE

DESTRUCTION OR BATHS. FLAMES SPREAD RAPIDLY. OUTBREAK IN MELBOURNE. One of the moat spectacular fires seen in Melbourne in recent years was that which destroyed the New St. Kilda men’s baths last week. The alarm was given to the fire brigade shortly before 9 o’clock at night, and within an hour only a few pieces of burning timber remained standing. So rapid was the destruction that it was practically Impossible to And where the lire originated. Many persons assort that an explosion preceded the actual outbreak, but in the absence of definite authority it was impossible to state what was the cause of the fire. It is stated by Mr. T. Politis, confectioner, who conducts a business on Lower Esplanade .that at about five minutes past nine o'clock he saw flames issuing from windows on the left side of the main entrance to the baths. He telephoned to the fire brigade. Within a few minutes of its first being seen the fire had spread with amazing rapidity, due, it is believed, to the dryness of the timber of which the building was constructed, and by the time the fire brigade arrived practically the whole building was a mass of flame. The fire presented a pictxiresque spectacle as the leaping flames were clearly reflected in the water on either aide of the building. Showers of sparks were blown by the southeasterly wind for some distance over the foreshore, creating a distinct element of danger among the spectators who thronged the beach reserves and the upper and lower esplanades. Collapse of the Roof. Owing to the fierceness with which the fire burned, the timber supporting the walls and roof of the buildings was rapidly destroyed. With a terrific crash part of the roof collapsed shortly before a charter to ten o’clock. The greater portion of the burning wood fell into the bathing enclosure, , and the sight of large beams burning fiercely on the water provided an extraordinary spectacle. Gradually other portions of the main building collapsed. Huge sections of the weatherboard facing of the structure broke away .and as they fell, striking the piles upon which the outer portion of the baths is built, they were shattered into dozens of small pieces, which remained alight in the water for some time. Engine “Bogged” in Sand, , In an endeavour to quell the flames and preyent them from reaching the wooden platform leading to the baths at the southern end of which the bicyle “stables” arc situated, firemen were detailed to take a pumping engine to the beach on the right side of the shed. Unfortunately the engine became “bogged” in the soft sand, and it was only with the greatest difficulty that it was extricated. Unhampered by the tide, which was at ebb, firemen were able to enter the sea and prevent the burning spars from igniting the piles supporting the approach to the baths. The sight of firemen wading waist-deep In the sea caused much comment among the spectators some of whom drew the inference from the actions of the firemen that an effort was being made to rescue some person who had been trapped in the building, but such was not the case. Man Fails Off Pier, For some distance around Hobson’s Bay the fire could be seen distinctly, and the flames were reflected in the low-hanging clouds, making the outbreak clearly visible from practically all parts of the city and southern suburbs. Gradttally the fire “burned itself out,” and at 11 o’clock only a mas s of charred timber remained hanging to the piles, which had not been affected by the fire. When the crowds watching the fire at the St. Kilda baths were standing on St. Kilda Pier, shortly after 10 o’clock .persons near the refreshment rooms saw a man, whose name is believed to be Adolph Gonard, fall over the edge of the pier. Another man dived into the water and rescued him. Gonard was token by civil ambulance to the Alfred Hospital and admitted suffering from the effects of Immersion.