SPECTACULAR FIRE.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LX, Issue 18552, 9 November 1923, Page 11

SPECTACULAR FIRE.

OUTBREAK IN MELBOURNE.

TIMBER YARDS DESTROYED.

GASOMETER IN VICINITY.

One of the most spectacular fires for several years occurred last week ft Fitzroy. Melbourne, where the timber yards and joinery works of Mulready, Provan and Clark, wore burned down. Machinery and valuable timber supplies were destroyed. The position and extent of the fire was such that it was visible from most of the suburbs. The Henley carnival had just concluded, and a, largo body of people were leaving the city when the north-eastern sky was lighted by the vivid glare of the fire. , Scores of motor-cars, cabs and other vehicles were soon on the way to Fitzroy, and the fire was witnessed by one of the largest crowds that have attended a Melbourne fire. Roads in the immediate vicinity of the outbreak were blocked by vehicular traffic, and at midnight many thousands of spectators were present. Electric wires were down in Alexandra Parade, and there was a cry of alarm as the wires were seen to fuse and set firo to one of the wooden posts. People scattered in every direction, and those on the outskirts of the crowd spread the cry that the gasometer opposite the scene of the fire was about to explode. Immediately there was a scene of considerrule confusion. People rushed to motorcars and made a dash to get away, some expressing fears that " Fitzroy would be blown up." But the gasometer was safe, and the fire on the telegraph pole was quickly extinguished. Tien the spectators Once more directed their attention to the blazing "timber yards, crowding back to positions so hurriedly vacated a few seconds previously. Despite the dangerous proximity to the main-tire of the t'imber yards extension on the open land across Cecil Street, a crowd of sightseers climbed on the top of the logs and sat directly in the glare of the blaze. Suddenly there was a wild scatter following the report that this stack had caught alight. An another occasion the intense heat caused a retreat on the part of the venturesome spectators. According to the fire brigade officials, this particular pile of timber was alight when the brigade reached tho main fire, but it was not subsequently affected. Meanwhile the firemen were busy fighting the fire. Pulling down a fence on tho Gore Street side, they went in between the stacks of burning timber, and endeavoured to stay the . progress of the blaze toward the east. A huge stack of white pine collapsed and fell into the general mass of flame, and among some of the watchers there was another scare— this time that some firemen had fallen down . with the subsiding stack. Such was not the case, however, and the brigade sujrvived ♦he all-night campaign agaLnst\the conflagration without sustaining a casualty. On tho west side, a shed extending the whole length of the yard, containing stocks of wood of many varieties, was saved. At midnight the fire was burning strongly, but it was thc-n apparent that the brigade had it in hand.