PANIC AT BIG FIRE

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXIX, Issue 21248, 30 July 1932, Page 12

PANIC AT BIG FIRE

DASH FROM DWELLINGS MOTHERS AND BABIES CROWDS BLOCK THE STREETS Two hundred firemen with 40 fire engines were engaged for several hours on tho night of June 21 fighting one of the biggest fires seen in East London in recent years. The building involved was that of Messrs. Polikoff, Limited, wholesale clothiers, at Hackney. It was a sevenstorey structure and was reduced to a shell in less than an hour and a-half. The outbreak was discovered at seven o'clock, while the employees, numbering 150, were still on the premises. Immediately the alarm was given they marched out without any sign of panic. Within ten minutes of tho outbreak the flames, fanned by a strong wind, had enveloped the entire building and soon the roof was ablaze. Vast clouds of smoke rolled across Bethnal Green, and the streets were choked with people. Traffic in the district was completely disorganised and police reinforcements were called out to deal with the crowds. Pieces of blazing clothing were being wafted across the road by the strong wind. Everywhere the crowds wore growing denser and shortly after 7.30 mounted police were xalled out to control them. Altogether 340 mounted and foot police were on duty to keep back the crowds and divert traffic. When the fire had reached its height columns of flame many feet high burst through tho roof and every floor of the building was a furnace. It was soon seen that there was no hope of saving the building itself and tho firemen began to direct their hoses on to the walls and roof of tho building next door. Tho wind was blowing tho flames across tho second building. Proximity of Petrol Station

The chiof danger was a petrol station, which was separated only by a narrow alley from the sceno of the fire. The proprietor called for volunteers to remove several motor-cars, and seven horses were taken from tho yard at the back of the blazing building, where volunteers formed a chain of buckets to put out flames caused by falling pieces of burning material. The occupiers of adjacent dwellings fled from their homes because they feared that an explosion might occur from tho petrol tanks. Screaming women, carrying babies wakened from their sleep, rushed madly from the sceno. Perambulators were loaded with articles that could be moved, but as the outbreak continued, no longer did the people worry about their belongings. "Go! Get away! If tho petrol tanks go off there is no hope for us." This was tho cry passed from woman to woman, from house to house, and from street to street. Within a few minutes panic prevailed. The police did everything they could to quieten the throng, but to add to their worries tho streets were crowded witli people going to tho Clapton greyhound racing. Motor-coaches, motor-cars, taxicabs and tramway cars filled the streets and, hanging on to tho slow-moving traffic, standing on running-boards, standing anywhere they could, were frightened pcoplo. Heroes ol the Fire Twelve houses had their fronts burned and windows broken by the firo and heat. Severe damage was done to a police house which adjoins the property, and the quarters of a police inspector and cubicles occupied by 35 constables were involved. A hairdresser's shop was set on fire and the occupants were forced to take refugo on the roof, from which they were rescued. Shortly after eight o'clock any danger of the fire spreading had been averted, although tho Polikoff building was still blazing furiously from top to bottom. After about two hours the flames had been extinguished, but the firemen continued to pump thousands of gallons of water on to the smouldering debris. An eye-witness, Mr. Alfred Carr, stated that he saw a man who bad been cut off by the flames at the top of a five-story building. "He was beating furiously on the window," he said, "to nt.tract attention, and ultimately a fireman ran up an escape and succeeded in rescuing him, injuring three of his fingers in doing so. The man was severely cut about tho face and hands, and was removed in an ambulance." The manager of the firm staled: "Tho hero of the fire was the stoker, who was ono of tho first, to discover the outbreak. With great courage ho immediately seized a fire extinguisher, and although he must have known it was hopeless, continued spraying until he was thrown through a window. Even then ho tried to do what he could, but was later removed to hospital with cuts from broken glass."