FIRE TRAGEDY

Otago Daily Times, Issue 23708, 16 January 1939, Page 10

FIRE TRAGEDY

MAN FATALLY BURNED OVERCOME BY SMOKE ATTEMPT TO SAVE YOUNG SON (Special to Daily Times) INVERCARGILL, Jan. 15. Dashing into his burning home early yesterday morning in an attempt to save his four-year-old son, Mr .Robert John Fraser, aged 33, was overcome by smoke and was found by firemen lying near the back door unconscious. Although badly burned about the shoulders and face he was still breathing. Artificial respiration failed and he died while being taken to hospital in the ambulance. The child was found evidently in the nick of time in an unconscious condition, but he responded to treatment and is reported to be making good progress m hospital. The brigade was called at 4.37 a.m. by a man who was passing the house, which is situated on the comer of Lewis and Ramrig streets, Gladstone. The front of the house, a six-roomed brick and roughcast one, was burning fiercely, the flames shooting through the roof. A lead of hose had to be played on the building before the men could fight their way in. The door was opened arid the draught partly cleared away the smoke, which was stifling in its density. When the firemen got inside -they found Mr Fraser lying huddled in the hall near the back door, ' He was badly burned about the shoulders and face, but was still breathing. Artificial respiration was continued until the ambulance arrived, but he did , before reaching hospital. When they were going through the building the firemen by the light of an electric torch found the little boy unconscious in the bathroom passage. He had apparently been trying to find his way out of the burning building. Artificial respiration was applied and he was taken to hospital. He had made a good recovery and is progressing favourably.

When the occupants! of the house were aroused by the fire Mrs White, the housekeeper, wakened the four children, the youngest of whom is a girl aged two years, and with Mr and Mrs Fraser they rushed outside. It was then discovered that one of the boys was missing. Mr Fraser made to go back into the house. The front by this time was a blazing inferno. Mrs Fraser tried to restrain him but he was determined to save the child. Overcome by smoke he fell unconscious in the hall where he was found by the firemen. The boy, by good fortune, was in a passage- * way off the hall where there was a small eddy, and the smoke was not so thick. This, it is considered, saved his life. The blaze was so strong when the brigade arrived that no one could enter the house until the flames were controlled. ' The fire was quickly rubdued, but the front of the house, where the outbreak apparently originated, was seriously damaged, i even the roof being burned through. The rear portion escaped comparatively lightly, the main damage being done by smoke, water and heat. Every window was broken by the heat. Even at that early hour of the morning a number .of people gathered at the scene, Before the brigade arrived it is stated that some of the bystanders wanted to break the windows, but were rightly advised not to do so as the draught would only fan the flames. Mr Fraser, who was employed as a motor lorry driver, was a member of a well-known Wallacetown family, and was formerly proprietor of the Invercargill-Wallacetown bus service.