DESTRUCTION BY FIRE.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXVI, Issue 20242, 30 April 1929, Page 12

DESTRUCTION BY FIRE.

store at chbistchtjrch.

NARROW ESCAPE OF FAMILY.

FIERCE SWEEP OF FLAMES.

WOMEN JOIN BUCKET BRIGADE,

[by telegraph.—own correspondent.] CHRISTCHUFCH, Monday.

Fire at an early hour this morning 'destroyed Brake's store, a landmark for half a century, at Church Corner, Upper Biccarton. The occupants had a narrow escape from the flames. The bu'lding was erected nearly 60 years ago by Mr. R. Brake, one of the pioneer traders of Canterbury. The shop and six-roomed houso were owned by Mrs. Saul, a daughter of Mrs. Brake, and had been leased for 13 years to Mr. S. Woods, who, with his wife and two children, aged threo years nnd one year, and Mrs. Woods, sen., occupied the dwelling. The post office, a new rough-cast building next door, was considerably damaged on one side. As the place is outside/; tho firo protection area no assistance could be given by tho fire brigade. Two blistered petrol pumps, the iron roof of a verandah, canted on its side, a bubbling mass which was once sacks of sugar, and a wreckage of roofing iron, aro practically all that remain of the twostoreyed building, furniture and stock of tho store. Nothing was saved. Tho fire took four hours to burn itself down to tho stage where nearby buildings vrero out of danger, and at 11 a.m. to-day masses of groceries under heaps of roofing materipl were still blazing fiercely. 'A stock of tinned fish caused some danger during tho fire, as the large tins exploded violently, and wero sometimes hurled across tho road. Under tho store were two petrol tanks, each contrining about 400 gallons, but owing to special construction they proved immune from the flames.

It was about 2.30 a.m. when the sleeping occupants of the house were awakened by the fire, and Mr. Woods had barely time to rescue the two children. Their

escape was a hazardous experience owing to the smoke and flames which filled the stairway. He attempted to re-enter the house, but was almost overcome with smoke, and had difficulty in regaining safety,/ The fire travelled swiftly through the dwelling, fanned by a strong southerly wind, and then worked back through the store. The occupants of adjacent houses, including three women, formed a bucket brigade and worked for nearly two hours to keep the fire from spreading. It was not long before the nearby water supplies ran out, and then it was necessary to carry water from tanks a hundred yards away. Later rain came down heavily, and enabled the fire-fighters to get a/supply of water by damming the gutters.