FIRES.

Otago Witness, Issue 3886, 4 September 1928, Page 33

FIRES.

BLAZE ON RIVER STEAMER. WANGANUI, August 28. .Excitement was caused at Hatrick’g B-i'er wharf yesterday afternoon when, shortly after 3 o,clock, an outbreak of fire occurred in the engine room of the steamer Wakapai. The Central Fire rigade hurried to the scene, where the flames were subdued by the use of a extinguisher. The steamer had just completed her overhaul in readiness t° r the up-river trip of the Waratnh the tb ffivet ea a ?- ! had come aeros? the river from the slip. An explosion occurred through the engine back firing and some petrol caught alight. M. Snow’ the engineer, j n attempting to extinguish the flames, was overcome by the smoke ri"4r f He’wn ld fe . H . , backw ards intm.the found M rV + ? U 1 $ ,y rescued > and was iound to be little the worse for his experience. He received attention, and was a„e in the engine room. OUTBREAK tF POWER PLANT. HAMILTON, September 2. A serious breakdown in the hydroelectric power m Auckland province’ was occasioned bv a fi re in t £ e Hora hora transformer nlant last night. The plant is now entirely out of act ? o of trn T Of kilowatts. One bank k-il™ fOr u" er3 Wltb a ca P aci fy of 4000 Kilowatts, however, was undamaged, and e staff hopes to recommission this portion promptly. There was no serious Han? V^ lenCe ?°’ da 7.’ as the industrial plants vere not working, but the shortage of current will probably be seriously felt to-morrow. The extent of the damage is not accurately known, but it is esti£2o.ooo Tile ’engineers to link up With the Arapuni transformer station but only about 2500 kilowatts is thus obtainable, leaving a considerable shortage for an indefinite period. The origin of the fire is unknown. Oil became ignited, and the flames spread through the woodwork to the roof. The staff held the fire in check with entmguishers. The Hamilton Fire Brigade was summoned, and with a powerful pumping plant the brigade, after two and a-half hours’ work extinguished the outbreak. The generating plant remains intact.

Owing to the failure of the Horahora power last night, the Hamilton picture theatres were unable to hold their entertainments.

DWELLING DESTROY’ED. About 3 o’clock on Friday afternoon a five-roomed w-ooden dwelling on Main road, Ravensbourne, was completely gutted by fire, only the four walls being left standing. The house, which was owned and occupied by Mr T. Davidson, was valued at £5OO, but was uninsured. The contents, which, with the exception of a piano, were completely destroyed, w’ere insured for £lOO. The occupants of the house were absent at the time of the outbreak. which it is thought was caused by an electric wire fusing. BRIGADE’S BUSY’ WEEK-END. Although no serious outbreaks of fire occurred during the week-end, th e City Fire Brigade was kept particularly busy, especially in dealing with numbers of bush and gorse fires on the outskirts be . c tfy- A t 4.45 p.m. on Saturday the brigade turned out tn a gorse fire in Northview crescent. Roslvn, and two hours later received a justifiable false alarm to the corner of Hanover and King streets. Between 8 and 10 o’clock on Saturday evening two further calls were received, one at 8.59 to a bush fire in Glenelg street, Roslyn, and the other to a blaze in some gorse near the Normanby tram terminus. A malicious false alarm was received from the corner of Queens drive and New street, Musselburgh at 1.45 a.m. on Sunday, and at 12.15 p.m. a gorse fire in Blacks road, Opoho, necessitated another turn out; another bush fire at 2.30 p.m. in Goodall street, Caversham, and an outbreak in the lupines near the Anderson’s Bay Cemetery about 6.45 p.m. were also dealt with. The brigade was also called to a chimney fire in King street at 5.35 p.m., and to the Roslyn Mills at 6.42 p.m. on a justifiable false alarm.