DONAGHY’S COMPANY SEEKING INQUIRY INTO STORE FIRE

Otago Daily Times, Issue 27094, 31 May 1949, Page 6

DONAGHY’S COMPANY SEEKING INQUIRY INTO STORE FIRE

It had been reported that the Dunedin Metropolitan Fire Board would probably hold an inquiry into the cause of the fire at Donaghy’s Rope and Twine Works on March 14, but up to the present time no knowledge of any inquiry had come to the ears of the directors or the management. The matter was placed in the hands of the company’s solicitors, and they were pressing for a public inquiry, said the chairman, Mr A. I. W. Wood, at the annual meeting of the company yesterday. The chairman said that for years past the factory and stores at South Dunedin had been fitted with an alarm system which sent an alarm in the event of a fire direct to’*- the Fire Brigade. The brigade inspected and tested the system at regular intervals, and the company paid the cost of such inspections. When the fire occurred an inspection was being carried out by the brigade, Mr Wood said, and a fireman 5 * was testing the apparatus with a torch or lamp with only a partially protected flame The fireman was ths only person in the store when the fire started. Mr Wood said that the directors some little time ago decided to install a sprinkler system in the factory and stores as an added protection against fire, and that system was in course of being installed when the fire occurred. “It should be made clear that it was not then in operation,” Mr Wood added. The company was fortunate in that the fire did not touch the factory, and, although it caused considerable trouble and worry to the management, it did not seriously interfere with production.