FIRE AND EXPLOSION.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXV, Issue 19916, 9 April 1928, Page 8

FIRE AND EXPLOSION.

OLD HOUSE DESTROYED. RESIDENCE IN REMUERA.. OCCUPANTS AWAY AT TIME. Fire totally destroyed a six-roomed twostoreyed wooden house at 118, Bassett Road, shortly after three o'cli>ck on Saturday morning, a loud explosion wrecking the building shortly after the fire started. The residence, which was over 60 years old, was owned and ' occupied by Mr. Hugh Montgomery, an employee of the Auckland Harbour Board, but there was no one in the house at the time of the fire, *Mr. Montgomery and his family being at Kohimarama for the Easter holidays. The force of the explosion, which shattered all the windows in the house and partially destroyed the roof,, was felt a great distance from the locality, awakening residents of the district and startling the neighbours, who had not known that anything was amiss. The Parnell and Remuera Fire Brigades, together with one engine from the city station, were quickly on the secne, but as the result of the explosion nothing could be done to save the building, which was a mass of flames. Tthe firemen were only able to confine tho flames to the one building, the adjoining houses being saved before damage beyond slight charring resulted. There was only a slight wind, but the house was totally destroyed in about a quarter of an hour, the old woodwork burning fiercely. The cause of both the fire and tho explosion is unknown, as everything appeared to be in good order when Mr. Montgomery left home on Thursday. There was nothing of an explosive nature in the house. The house was insured with the New Zealand Insurance Company for £SOO, while the contents were covered for £4OO in Lloyd's. f