FIRES IN SYDNEY

Otago Daily Times, Issue 23671, 1 December 1938, Page 7

FIRES IN SYDNEY

TWO FACTORIES DESTROYED EMPLOYEES IN PERIL t (Fhom Our Own Correspondent) SYDNEY, Nov. 24. Fires on successive days guttca two Sydney factories, causing losses estimated at £15,000 at each and endangering the lives of employees and firemen. The first fire was at a woodworking factory at Newtown. Six girls were saved from deat* through the quick thinking of their forewoman. Unaware that flames were sweeping through the .voodwork on the ground floor, the girls wer- having morning tea on the top storey. Dashinp through thick smoke, the forewoman and another employee went to their rescue and led them to safety. A fireman who was trapped above the ceiling temporarily lost his .ight and was found staggerin,-; blindly amid the flames. The fire spreaa with amazing rapidity. Twenty-five employees were in the factory when the fire started in the polishing section. Although he was immediately informed, the proprietor, Mr S. R. Corben, was unable to save anything. He and the men raced for safety. "What about the girls?" cried Miss Alice Penfold, factory forewoman. Miss Penfold and Ernest Garuse, another employee, dashed up the stairs. Feeline their way along the blistered walls and running a gauntlet of flame, they found the girls, who were staggering about the room. They led Uiem by the same route to safety. "We owe our lives to Miss Penfold and Mr Garuse," said one of the rescued girls. "They kr.ew they might be burnt alive if they came to save us, but they didn't hesitate. Miss Penfold was wonderful. 1 She remained perfectly cool. She said if we held on to each other and followed her aid Mr Garuse we would be saved." *. Fed by paint and oil, the flames swiftly ignited the factory from end to end. A large stock of Christmas toys was destroyed. Suddenly the blazing framework collapsed, and myriads of sparks rose into the air. Fires broke out in adjoining houses, and residents frantically carried their belongings on to the roagkway. One of the houses was Reiby House, convict-built and one of the oldest buildings in the city. It was originally the home of Thomas Reiby and his wife, the latter a convict ' girl sentenced for a trivial offence, who fell in love with Reiby, an officer," on the voyage out, went into business with him, and was, when she died in 1855, one of the wealthiest worruati in New South Wales. The second fire occurred in the candle factory of the Glycerine Distillery Co., Ltd., at Alexandria. Trapped in the blazing factory where 50,0001 bof candles were shooting flames 60 feet into the air, three men were in peril of their lives, until a door burst open and they were able to reach. safetySixty firemen were.helpless against the rush of flame which created a sea of molten and blazing wax through which they had to wade with their hoses. Two were injured. So swiftly did the factory burn that in half an hour a new building and its contents were reduced to ashes and damage of £15,000 had been done. The heat was so intense that firemen at first could not approach close enough to work effectively. When one detachment went forward, white-hot roofing fell around them and sizzling candle grease swirled around their Wellington boots. Flames ran on the surface of this sea of grease, which soon became coated with pitch. A piece of' hoi iron crashed on one fireman and injured him. Another/running to get more hose, leaped from the building, lost his balance on the slippery ground, and broke a leg.