SERIOUS FIRES

New Zealand Times, Volume XXXIII, Issue 7444, 19 May 1911, Page 5

SERIOUS FIRES

LONDON STREET ABLAZE PEOPLE CUT OFF IN BURNING BUILDINGS. WOMEN JUMP TO GROUND By Telegraph—Trees Association—Copyright (Received May 18, 9.33 p.m.) LONDON, May 18. A fire, attended by sensational circumstances, occurred yesterday in Cecil court, St. Martin’s lane. The first intimation of anything unusual was an explosion in a basement in which millions of feet of cinematograph films wore stored. A man in the shop above was blown oat into the street, and in a few seconds the court was a seething mass of flames. Opposite the building in which tho fro started was a book shop, and this was speedily consumed. Fears were entertained that two blocks of flats surrounding the court would be involved. Many of the residents were cut off, and the crowds in the street below hurriedly strapped short ladders together, for use in rescue work pending the arrival of firemen with their patent telescopic escape ladders. Many thrilling escapes are recorded. Some women crawled from their rooms on to tho narrow parapets, where they waited amidst the blinding smoke until rescuers could reach them. Others, in a frenzy of despair, flung themselves into the arms of the crowd below. Five women were injured, and had to bo taken to tho hospital. VILLAGE IN FLAMES SIX HUNDRED HOUSES LAID WASTE. ST. PETERSBURG, May 18. Fire destroyed 600 houses in the village of Dyvin, in the government of Grodno, bordering on Lithuania. Among the buildings burned were a school and a hospital. Two persons were killed. THOUSANDS HOMELESS IMMENSE DAMAGE BY FIRE AT KIRIN. PEKIN, May 18. The damage done by the recent fire in Kirin, Manchuria, amounts to £4,000,000. Four thousand shops, fifteen banks, and 8387 houses were destroyed. Forty thousand persons are homeless.:.