FIRE CAUSES HEAVY DAMAGE

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume LXXIII, 10 December 1940, Page 6

FIRE CAUSES HEAVY DAMAGE

BUILDING GUTTED AND MOTOR VEHICLES DESTROYED [outbreak IN WELLINGTON CITY [United Press Association) WELLINGTON, This Day. Damage estimated at between £7OOO and £BOOO was caused by a fire which gutted a single-story building in Taranaki street, near Courtenay Place, Wellington, shortly after midday yesterday. The building is owned b; the Wellington City Corporation and occupied by J amieson's Garage, Nu-Tread, Ltd., and Dominion Rental Cars. Ltd. Several motor vehicles and a large stock of motor tyres were destroyed in Jamieson’s Garage and Nu-Tread, Ltd., but Dominion Rental Cars. Ltd., managed to remove most of their vehicles, and one or two under repair received minor damage only. A fireman, Mr Henry G. Hobbs, received minor injuries from burns and was taken to hospital by the Free Ambulance. The outbreak occurred at 12.40 p.m., starting in the centre of the block in the premises occupied by Nu-Tread, Ltd., where it is stated that sparks from an electric welding plant ignited fine rubber dust. Within a short space of time the flames had burst through the wooden walls into the garage. It was impossible to extricate any of the cars from the garage because the exit was completely blocked by cars under repair and with their front wheels up on stools. Many ceiling-high, stacks of tyres in Nu-Tread, Ltd.’s., -premises I blazed with terrific heat and it was this section of the outbreak that held out for longest against the efforts of the Fire Brigade. BRIGADE’S DIFFICULT TASK Five engines—four from the central station and one from Thorndon—were quickly on the scene after the alarm was given and within about 20 minutes the outbreak was under control and its spread to other buildings no longer likely. Working in dense black smoke and intense heat the firemen had a difficult task. Most of the roof was burnt through by 1 o’clock, and with the exception of the stacks of tyres, which i continued to blaze up from time to time, the main conflagration was extinguished. Several cars in a vacant section on the south side of the garage were endangered by the outbreak, but volun- . teers helped to move them to safety and provided a quick passage for them by i ripping down a tall paling fence facing the street.