Spectacular Blaze

Manawatu Times, Volume 63, Issue 39, 16 February 1938, Page 6

Spectacular Blaze

ADDINGTON BACON FACTORY GUTTED Per Pres* Association, CHRISTCHURCH, Feb. 15. Fire caused damage estimate, a» £SOOO for the building and £3OO for the plant and slock in the bacon factory ol T. H. Breen and Co., LtdU in Princess street, Addington. The fire started ai •bout 10.30 last evening, and it burned fiercely until earlr this morning. The building is outside the city, and the greatest handicap to the brigade in Its fight was the lack of water. A small stream running alongside the factory was exhausted after about five pumping by the engine, and after that the swimming -bath at Wright Stephenson's store, about a quarter of a mile away, was drawn on. This held about 15,000 gallons, and, although there was some artesian water flowing in all this time, was nearly exhausted by 12.30. Conditions were such that the brigade had only one lead in use all the time, and with this the firemen concentrated more on saving the parts of the factory which the fire had not touched before 11 pjn., when the brigade arrived. The main part of the building, which was completely gutted, is of two storeys »nd in brick. It was at the northern end al this, apparently near the sausage and small-goods department, that the outbreak was first noticed, and it spread very rapidly from that to the hangingroom. Here there were about £2OOO worth of pigs on the hooks, and once the flames got into this room the melting fat added more fuel to the fire. Though the details of the insurance were not available early this morning, it was stated that the whole cover on the buildings and stock was £II,OOO in the New Zealand Insurance Co., Ltd. The blaze was one of the most spectacular teen in Christchurch for years. When the fire was at its height, between 11 and 11.30, large sheets of flame and masses of smoke rose into the &ir, and the crashing of roofing and beams provided an exciting accompanlrnent to the spectacle of the smoke and flames. Iron bars on the windows were beni with the heat, and it was not long before the part of the building affected bv the Arc was nothing more than a shell of brick walls fringed with flamins woodwork and enclosing a chaos o. smoking ruin'.