BRIGADE'S TASK

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXXV, Issue 23169, 15 October 1938, Page 12

BRIGADE'S TASK

CHRISTCHURCH FIRE GOVERNMENT BUILDIN6S | CLOUDS OF ACRID SMOKE SEVERAL FIREMEN OVERCOME [by telegraph—press association] CHRISTCHirRCH, Friday Hampered by dense clouds of acrid smoke, in which several men wore overcome, the Christchurcli Fire Brigade had a difficult task to check an outbreak of fire in the Government Buildings in Worcester Street early this morning.

Discovered shortly after 2 a.m., the fire had started apparently in the electrical workshop in the basement underneath the offices occupied by the Customs Department, but dense clouds of smoke rising by way of the lift well and the main staircase right to the top of the building, gave the impression that the whole block was alight. Pungent fumes of burning rubber and other insulating materials in the electrical workshop, and of charred deerskins in a nearby store, mingled with the of smouldering paper as fire ate its way into stacks of documents, the accumulation of years, which fill most of the basement.

Several firemen who went down into the basement seeking the seat of the fire without gas masks, were overcome, and collapsed, but were carried out by their comrades equipped with respirators.

Shortly after 3 a.m. the fire was out. Little structural damage was done, though the fire burned a hole about 10 feet in diameter through the floor of the corridor.