DESTRUCTION BY FIRE.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXV, Issue 20028, 18 August 1928, Page 12

DESTRUCTION BY FIRE.

HOUSE AT BROWN'S BAY. OCCUPANTS' HURRIED ESCAPE. A fivc-roomed house at Brown's Bay, owned by Mr. R. N. Chatfield, was totally destroyed by fire at an early hour yesterday morning. The occupants of the house, which was principally used as a summer residence, were Mrs. Chatfield and her daughter, Miss Pearl Chatfield, who had only time to escape in their night attire. Fortunately, they were occupying the front rooms, while the outbreak originated at the rear of the building. The house was insured.

DAMAGE AT MOUNT ROSKILL. KITCHEN OF HOUSE SUFFERS. The kitchen and scullery of a six-roomed house at No. 1, Lynton Avenue, Mount Roskill, owned and occupied by Mr. Bernard Longbottom, were extensively damaged by fire about 11.30 yesterday morning. At the timo there was no one in tho house and the alarm was given by a neighbour. The Mount Roskill Fire Brigade effected a quick save. The insurance on the house is £2OOO in tho Norwich Union Office, ami thp'contents arc insured for £3OO in the State Fire Office. PICTTJUE THEATRE INVOLVED. BACKFIRE OF ENGINE. [BY TET-EGUAPH. —OWN CORRESPONDENT.] WHANGAREI. Friday. Before starting the cinematograph show at the Criterion Theatre, Ilikurangi, last evening, Mr. Hunter Harris, tho proprietor, was starting the engine which supplies the power, when it backfired. The engine was housed in a shed attached to the main building, and the shed was soon a mass of flames. Mr. Harris had his right hand and arm burned, while his clothes also caught firo and had to'be torn from him. . The newlyformed brigade quickly put tho fire out and saved the theatre. The dynamo was ruined and the shed will have to be rebuilt.