BOARDING HOUSE FIRE

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXII, Issue 18950, 23 February 1925, Page 8

BOARDING HOUSE FIRE

UPPER STOREY GUTTED. LODGERS LOSE PROPERTY. SHEETS AS ESCAPE ROPES. Fire destroyed the major portion of the Mount Royal boarding house, 571, Manukau Road, in the early hours of yesterday morning. The 13 male hoarders escaped with little time to spare, and most of them lost either clothing or personal effects. The outbreak apparently started on the landing of the second storey, and a lodger who was awakened by the falling of timber, shortly after one o'clock, found the fire well advanced. The City, Parnell and Remuera brigades arrived promptly, to find the greater part of the top floor blazing. Several boarders on this storey left their rooms by the windows and crawled across the verandah roof, where a sheet was utilised to reach the ground. Others used the fire-escapes, as the centre of the fire was near the stairway. The outbreak was well under control within half an hour, but the top storey by that time was gutted and every room on the lower floor had suffered damage either from fire or water. The contents of the building were owned by the tenant, Mrs. S. Williams, and were insured for £450 in the Insurance Office of Australia. The building is a 15-roomed structure and is owned by Miss C. Aitkenhead, of Park Road, City. It is covered by a policy for £2070 in the New Zealand Insurance Company. The cause of the fire is not known.

OUTBREAK IN COAL STORE. PROMPT SUPPRESSION. An outbreak of fire occurred at the Waipa Coal Company's store in Boston Road, Mount Eden, on Saturday evening. The City Fire Brigade, which received a call at 9.25 o'clock, extinguished the fire with chemicals. Slight damage was done to some weather hoards.