"FIREBALL" IN HOUSE

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXXII, Issue 22100, 4 May 1935, Page 16

"FIREBALL" IN HOUSE

SYDNEY WOMAN'S ORBEATi TERRIFYING EXPLOSION DAMAGE ESTIMATED AT £IOOO [FROM OUR OWN CORRESPONDENT] SYDNEY. April 23 Storms and weather vagaries have been responsible for some curious results in New South Wales in the past few months, but no weather freak has been more remarkable than that which visited a house at Centennial Park, near Sydney. It was n "fireball," which, during a storm the other day, came into the house through an open balcony doorway, narrowly missed a woman and her son and later exploded, causing damage estimated at £'looo.

Mrs. S. T. Price, wife of the owner of the hotise, and her son Graham were walking across the landing on the first floor when the "fireball" entered and floated slowly toward her. "1 felt terrific heat about me," she said, when telling of her experience, "and, looking over my shoulder, I saw a flaming mass sending oft a shower of sparks a few feet from my head. "Then followed a deafening explosion and the house was filled witli thick, evil-smelling fumes. 1 was so distressed that it' was somo minutes before I and my husband were ablo to make an investigation of the home. It was so terrifying that .1 am unable even to say whether the 'fireball' actually struck something."

The force of the explosion was so great that it blow a hole in the slate roof of the house and damaged the gables and tlio ceilings of practically every room, covering the .carpets and furniture with a thick mantle of powder which Mr. Price described as resembling burned pumice. A huge mass of debris fronj a shattered chimney crashed down into a bedroom, and the well Maid-out gardens of the home were scattered with pieces of brickwork, slates and timber. It was raining heavily, and damage to the interior of the house was greatly increased by torrents of water which poured into the rooms and Hooded them through the holes in the roof. The explosion was a severe blow to Mr. and Mrs. Price, who had bought the dwelling only two months before and had ordered certain improvements. Mr. Price is a well-known collector of ceramics, and his beautifully furnished and decorated home includes many valuably pieces of Dresden china. Fortunately, however, none of these was damaged.