Another Big Blaze In j Force Camp

Northern Advocate, 17 June 1947, Page 4

Another Big Blaze In j Force Camp

(Official Correspondent with J Force)

CHOFU, June 14

Fire early this morning destroyed a large New Zealand Army Service Corps supply point building at Chofu. Large quantities of fresh and canned stores held there for the whole of the New Zealand Brigade were burned, as well as the supply point main office and barracks, command and recreation rooms for the supply personnel. The men’s loss was heavy. When the alarm was given at about 6 a.m. the 32 men sleeping in the building were hurriedly aroused. Practically no army equipment or individual belongings were saved. MAIN STORE SAVED An almost incredible save was made of the main store, which stands directly beside the supply point building. This wooden store, holding supplies worth thousands of pounds, caught, fire along one wall, but the combined and spectacular efforts of army and civilian brigades and the individual work of soldiers and Japanese labourers from a nearby factory stopped the spread of the flames. The cause of the fire, which is the sixth in which New Zealanders have suffered heavily in recent months, is unknown. OTHER OUTBREAKS

The fifth of the series of fires affecting J Force was at Iwakuni, Southern Japan, on May 25., when the officers’ mess of the British Commonwealth Air Group, which housed 150 officers including all those of the 14th New Zealand Fighter Squadron, was, destroyed. Two British officers were burned to death.

Serious losses were suffered by J Force members when two-thirds of the New Zealand camp at Senzaki was destroyed on May 16. It was reported to be the fourth fire in the New Zealanders’ area in recent months.

Fire caused by the explosion of a field cooker destroyed barracks occupied by C Company, 27th Battalion, at Yamaguchi, on September 27, 1946. Two other fires in which New Zealanders suffered losses have also occurred in Japan.