Fire Causes Considerable Damage in Welllngton

Manawatu Times, Volume 66, Issue 290, 6 December 1941, Page 6

Fire Causes Considerable Damage in Welllngton

Per Press Association. WELLINGTON, Dec. 5. Damage amounting to several thousands of pounds was caused as the result of a lire which broke out in a building in Sturdee Street off Dixon Street, Wellington, this afternoon. Thanks to smart work by the Wellington Fire Brigade, little structural damage was done to the building itself, but the stock and plant suffered severely from water. The building, a basement and three stories of reinforce concrete with wooden floors and partitions, is owned by the David McCrae Estate and David McCrae, Ltd., mattress manufacturers, occupy the basement, ground floor and the first floor, while Houghton’s Steel Products Co. and the Tatra Leather Goods Co. occupy the second flooi. The fire originated at the rear of the top floor in Houghton’s premises which wero fairly severely damaged. Apart from spreading along the roof, flames were confined by tho brigade to this section of the building. The alarm was given at 3 o’clock. Clouds of dense, black smoke were pouring from the windows and from under the oaves when the brigade arrived. Working under the direction of Superintendent C. A. Woolley, the brigadesmen had a difficult task to penetrate the barrier of smoke and heat. The smoke was dealt with by the use of oxygen masks, but streams of water had to be projected into the building from outside before the heat was reduced sufficiently to allow the men to enter and get to grips with the flames. Once this was accomplished in about ten minutes the fire was soon under control and half an hour later it was practically extinguished.

Salvage sheets were placed over the plant and stocks on the lower floors as soon as possible but not before fairly serious damage had been done, particularly to bales of kapoc and other material stored in the basement. Here afterwards a trailer pump was used to remove the water which had accumulated to a depth of about six inches. One man who was on the top floor when the fire broke out said that it got away very suddenly. The first he knew of it was when he heard girls from McCrae’s running downstairs. He went out and when he attempted to return immediately the staircase was filled with clouds of smoke. One of the girls left the building so hurriedly that she did not have time to put on her shoes.