BIG SYDNEY FIRE

Otago Daily Times, Issue 23108, 6 February 1937, Page 11

BIG SYDNEY FIRE

TREAT FOR MIDNIGHT HOMEGOERS EXPLOSIVES CARRIED TO SAFETY • Krom Our Own Correspondent! SYDNEY, Jan. 30. Homegoers from theatres and dances, many of them in evening dress, were treated to an extra entertainment at midnight at Tuesday by a fire which gutted six floors of the whole general warehouse of W. S. Friend and Co., in Clarence street, city, causing damage estimated at £30,000. Oil, paint, and tar blazed fiercely; flames broke through the roof and windows of the top storey, and dense smoke filled Clarence street. A strong force of police had to control.a crowd of several thousands, who would probably not have been so eager to watch at close-hand if they had known the extent of the danger they ran. Firemen had to dash into a smoke-filled basement and carry out a huge safe containing 1001 b of explosives, which if they had gone off would have blown the whole block of buildings to smithereens. The safe was smouldering when it was brought out into the street. Seventy-three brigade officers and men fought the fire under Chief Officer Richardson. Ten motor engines, one salvage wagon, and four extension ladders were in service, and six motors were pumping water continuously during the blaze. The men faced further dangers attempting to fight the flames by breaking windows at the ground floor. Extension ladders were run up the roofs above the fifth and sixth floors of neighbouring buildings, and groups of firemen poured water into the blaze from the streets. Firemen worked in light-wells and alleys, where dense smoke reduced visibility to no more than a few feet. Paint, varnish, spirits, and oils fed the flames. The fire swept from the first floor, where it evidently started, to the roof in a few minutes. Exploding tins of oils and paints sent long tongues of flame leaping from the windows. Chief Officer Richardson realised that water would not subdue the flames, and the chemical plant was used. Firemen entered the windows on the first floor and stood among the flames, while they played foam from tanks. The flames were so fierce that they did not die down until about two feet of foam covered the floors. For three hours the firemen worked on isolated outbreaks of flame. Two firemen were injured—one when he fell from the first floor to the ground floor and the other when he was struck in the face by a jet from a hose. W. S. Friend and Co. is one of the largest and oldest ironmongery and paint and oil importing firms in The firm has been established for 96 years, and the building was one of the oldest warehouses in the city.