FIRE IN AUCKLAND.

Otago Daily Times, Issue 21258, 12 February 1931, Page 9

FIRE IN AUCKLAND.

WORKERS NEARLY TRAPPED. MAN CRASHES THROUGH ROOF LEFT LEG INJURED. (Per United Press Association.) AUCKLAND, February 11. With no fire escapes available, scores of workmen in the new six-storey building of the Auckland Farmers’ Freezing Company took extreme measures to -reach safety when the freezing chamber on the first floor caught fire to-day. _ The floor covering of the chamber, an inflammable mixture of bitumen and cork, caught alight, and dense smoke was soon pouring from most of the windows of the building. A 19-year-old produce hand, Mr Frederick Blucher, jumped the distance of two storeys on to a roof of corrugated asbestos, and crashed through to the concrete floor below. He received a gash on the left leg and abrasions. Mr Blucher was one of a number of men who were turned back by the wall of dense smoke that had poured up the elevator shafts from the burning chamber. The men were unable to find a way of reaching the ground floor without undergoing great risk, and were forced to ascend to the higher storeys and to attempt to reach the adjacent roofs. Apart from the accident to Mr Blucher the most remarkable experience was that of Mr F. Taylor, who was trapped in the burning freezing chamber. “I was working in the chamber when I heard a cry that the building was on fire, he said. “I knew the fire was m the chamber, but I thought I had sufficient time to get away, and stayed behind to collect my tools, but the smoke became so dense that I could not see the doorways. When I found them by groping my way through the smoke they were locked. Some other men had locked the doors of the freezing chamber, thinking that no one remained, and hoping to stop the fire from spreading. It was the correct thing to do, but it nearly cost me my life. Fortunately for me, one of my mates, Harry Flay, saw that i was not among those who had got clear, and returned with another man to the chamber. I was just about all m when he caught me by the shoulder and dragged me clear.” _ In their endeavours to escape other workmen adopted the same method as Mr Blucher. Several jumped from th® lower storey on to the roof through which the injured man crashed, and they managed to avoid injury. LOCAL CALLS. The City Fire Brigade was called out at 3.45 a.m. yesterday to attend a fire which had broken out in Messrs M Galium and Co.’s two-storeyed joinery factory in Crawford street. A hole had been burnt in the floor of the engine room, and the ceiling had been damaged, but beyond that nothing serious had occurred, and the brigade soon had the outbreak under control. No cause can be assigned for the fire.