A TOTAL LOSS

Otago Daily Times, Issue 27391, 17 May 1950, Page 8

A TOTAL LOSS

House Destroyed By Fire NO BRIGADE SERVICE A five-roomed wooden house in Main road, Ocean Grove, was completely destroyed yesterday by a fire which began about 7.30 a.m. The house was fully furnished and the owner, Mr James Biggs, lost everything except a kitchen chair and a drawer. Among the burnt furniture were a dining room suite, two bedroom suites and a complete set of kitchen furniture. Mr and Mrs Biggs were not occupying the house at the time of the fire, hut having completed its renovation, intended to move in next week. The cause of the fire is not yet known. Mr Biggs is believed to have been the last person in the house, and he left it on Sunday after turning off the power. He passed it at 7.25 a.m. yesterday and saw no sign of a fire. The blaze was first seen by a boy cycling past the house on his way to work between 7.30 a.m. and 7.45 a.m. He told Mrs Biggs, who lived nearby, and she rang the Metropolitan Fire Brigade. Because the house was outside the Metropolitan Fire district, the brigade did not attend the fire. The superintendent, Mr F. C. Laidlaw, commented yesterday that this type of fire presented a problem. If people were given protection on the fringe of the city area (the house was 200 yards outside the boundary), everyone else would have to be given the same protection. A line of demarcation was necessary. Special arrangements for a fire protection service could be made, such as existed between the Fire Board, the Dunedin City Council and the owners of the property containing the Ocean Grove Transit Camp. If people wanted a service they had to pay for it. .