DISASTROUS FIRES

Otago Daily Times, Issue 23501, 16 May 1938, Page 10

DISASTROUS FIRES

ORIGIN IN LIFT WELL DAMAGE ESTIMATED AT £9OOO STOCK SUFFERS SEVERELY (Per United Press Association) CHRISTCHURCH, May 15. Damage which will probably amount to about £9OOO was caused by a fire that broke out shortly after 9 p.m. yesterday at the bottom of a goods lift well in the Crown Tailoring Company’s building at the corner of Manchester street and Bedford row. The fire rose through the well to the top of the building, making it necessary for the firemen to break through the asphalt roof to introduce two leads of hose. The damage was mainly done to the stock of Messrs Weston Bros., leather goods manufacturers, on the two top floors. Comparatively little damage was done to the building, which is of four storeys and is built of brick and concrete with a timber interior, but the Crown Tailoring Company (N.Z.), Ltd., which occupies part of the ground floor and the first floor, and two other shops on the ground floor suffered damage to slock through smoke and water. The fire was under control at 11.30 p.m. A MAJOR OUTBREAK FOUR-STOREY BUILDING DESTROYED BRIGADE’S ARDUOUS FIGHT (Per United Press Association) AUCKLAND, May 15. Fire completely beyond the control of the brigades swept through a large four-storeyed brick building in Kitchener street to-night. From roof to basement the building, which housed several firms, was a mass of flames. It was the largest fire in Auckland since 1931. At midnight the brigadesmen, after a two-hours’ fight, were still engaged in suppressing the outbrosk The damage will be very heavy. The building is a total loss, and with it was destroyed valuable equipment belonging to four companies, as well as motor vehicle bodies under construction. The firms in the building are the D.S.C. and Cousins, Ltd., motor body builders; the New Zealand Case and Box Company, Ltd., and the Dominion Woodwool Company. The flames burst through the roof to a height of 50 feet in the air.