NARROW ESCAPES

Otago Daily Times, Issue 26980, 15 January 1949, Page 6

NARROW ESCAPES

HOTEL DESTROYED MANY GUESTS LOSE HEAVILY PA WELLINGTON, Jan. 14. Eastbourne’s only hotel, a two-storey brick and wooden building containing 30 bedrooms, was almost completely destroyed by a fire which broke out on the second floor shortly before 11 a.m to-day and swept through the premises within a few minutes. Guests and staff indoors escaped injfiry but few were able tc snatch their belongings from the patb of the flames. The hotel, owned by Mr and Mrs G. R. Clark, was insured with the South British Insurance Company for £6OOO but the proprietors consider its present replacement value is about £25,000. No reliable estimate of the loss suffered by the guests could be made to-day. although it is known that some of them lost considerable sums of money among their persona) effects. Besides 40 guests staying in the hotel over the New Year holiday period, permanent guests who reside there during the winter months and leave their heavy baggage stored in the hotel during the summer were reported to have lost considerable quantities of valuable belongings. The hotel Eastbourne was built in 1925 and was later added to. Mr and Mrs Clark took over the proprietorship about 18 months ago. Hurried Evacuation Work in the hotel was proceeding normally when the fire was discovered. The tables in the dining room were set for lunch and routine housework was being done. About a dozen guests, among them a child aged 18 months, were indoors when 'the fire started. The child was hurriedly roused from her morning nap by her mother and carried outside. Two other guests were also asleep in their rooms when awakened by shouts and escaped. They were ultimately supplied with clothing by neighbours. One elderly .woman refused to vacate the burning building without her budgerigar and at length the bird, cage and the owner emerged from a side door a few seconds ahead of a great billow of smoke. All the guests interviewed paid a tribute to the cool way in which Mrs Clark supervised the clearing of the guests from the blazing building. When she had made sure that all were safely outside, Mrs Clark got a garden hose and attached it to an outside tap, but by then the fire had such a hold that her efforts were futile. At the height of the fire, shortly after noon, the flames were leaping to a height of 40ft through the wrecked roof, and the dense clouds of smoke, rising high against the bush-clad hillside, could be easily seen in Wellington. Brigadesmen’s Efforts The building was well ablaze by the time the first fire engine arrived. The superintendent of the Eastbourne Bri-: gade was away on holiday, as were several of the volunteer brigadesmen. Fourth Officer N. Bennett war the only man on the engine when it arrived, but within a few minutes two other men were'on the scene, one being JDrummond, who was first -superintendent of the brigade 25 years ago. A telephone call was made to the Day’s Bay Brigade, which answered the call with one engine. Assistance was given by many council employees, including several Eastbourne bus drivers. Commenting lajer on the difficulty of calling the members of the volunteer brigade, Officer Bennett said there was no siren or alarm system which could be used for that purpose, and all the men had to be telephoned individually. “We opened the front door to be confronted by a mass of flames roaring up the staircase,” said Officer Bennett, who supervised the fire-fighting efforts. “The heat was terrific, and forced us to withdraw. We then at-, tacked the blaze from an upstairs window, but the fire had too great a hold. Smoke was pouring out of the roof as I went to get the fire engine just after the alarm was given.” The Eastbourne Borough Council was setting up a benevolent fund for the people who had lost heavily in the fire, said the town clerk and general manager of the borough, .Mr J. P. McDavitt, to-night. One donation of £lO, given anonymously, had already been received by the council. Several English settlers newly arrived in New Zealand had also been staying in the hotel.