FIRE NEAR GASWORKS

Manawatu Times, Volume LIII, Issue 6735, 11 October 1928, Page 9

FIRE NEAR GASWORKS

. GREAT ALARM IN LEEDS. 1 PAINT BLISTERED BY HEAT. Considerable alarm was, caused in Leeds in tho early morning of August 17, when, within 1-Oyds. of the corporation’s huge gasometers at Shecpscar, a fire occurred in a large three-storeyed building. It blazed so furiously 'that tho flames could bo seen all over Leeds.* Hundreds of terror-stricken people were in the streets, many only lightly clad, and numerous women collapsed at the'thought of the peril to their homes. The .fire .was in. a very congested area, and the flames leaped to a height of J 00ft.

The scene of the fire was a brick building 50yds. or GOyds. long, formerly used as a tannery, ...bu, unterianted for some time. The fire was first noticed shortly after -.2 a.m. by the night watchman and workmen at the gas station, who notified the police. The firebrigade was summoned, and for many hours they fought the flames. Soon after the fire brigade arrived they aroused an tho residents and warned them to get 1 ready to leave. Tho firemen were hampered by-the narrowness of the lane leading into the yard where the building; blazed. The woodwork- of the building was old and dry, and no sooner had it caught alight than the whole of the interior blazed like matchwood.

There was at one stage a real danger from falling debris and the tarred roof of tho building nearby became ignited, but was promptly extinguished. There was great danger of a really disastrous fire, and, in addition, the menace of a serious explosion if the fire caught the big gasholders. , The gasometer nearest to the fire rose 6ft. in five minutes', reprosenung an expansion of gas (due to the fierce heat) of 150,000 cubic feet. The superintendent of the Shecpscar Gasworks had an exciting time pumping water •on to the holders. The paint on them became very badly blistered. Some of the blisters were as much; as Sin. across. • When the fire was at its worst the paint, was rising on the sides of tho holder nearest to it in huge bubbles, and it was then that the holder itself began to rise. •