THE CHRISTCHURCH FIRE.

Poverty Bay Herald, Volume XXXIV, Issue 11127, 16 November 1907, Page 5

THE CHRISTCHURCH FIRE.

(Per Press Association.) . .CHRISTCHURCH, this day. The ifact that ' a huge fire could break out m GhridtchrirchV aria reach an absolutely uncontrollable stage, apparently without detection, or without, at any rate, any official-knowledge, of its existence, has caused curiosity m the city, and the astonishihent hais been made greater \ because . the ffrej was visible a long way . off before the bells , rung out., Though it is .. certain ''--that, at the hour : 'of Tthe occurrence, there: must havebeen people in; . -;, the streets, no one close ha ndy seemed ' to . /■•; I see aaiythingViiriusual until too /late tb; ' y; do any good; The Fire Board Avill makt^*_:close enquiry. ■'.- ..-,-: .-; „, ■l^lz 1 '„ . . T V — ■ ---' ■Vs>'?'The fire at Christchurch on Wednesday which destroyed the Kaipoi Woollen Co.'s large clothing factory was a spectacular one. The outlying fire stations were apprised and alarms sounded on the various bells , and engines from the different (stations quickly assembled. Owing to the nature of the material m the building dense volumes of pungent smoke . were given off. The heat was; intense. The , flames appeared to billow to and fro m solid masses, y The, roof fell' m with a resounding crash almost as soon as water was got on, and for several riiomerits the air was charged almost to suffocation with tlie glowing cindersarid dust. The building - (which extended through Cashel street to Bedford Row, having a frontage of 66 feet and a depth of 132 feet) was doomed from the outset, and it was impossible, owing to the rapid march- of the fire to save any of the contents. ■'■ The jpremises were devoted to the storage ' and handling of - clothing, blankets, flannels, rugs and hosiery, and included also; the. costume and cap manufacturing departments. The stocks held were fairly heavy m anticipation of the Christmas business, . f '■.•',■■•' The building Ton either side of the Cashel street frontage (Roy d and Oompariys' and Fisher's Chambers) escaped unscathed, save that Fisher's Chambers, the ground floor of which is occupied by the Canterbury Seed Company arid- the Flourmillers Asociation, were damaged by water. This was occasioned by the fact of the Kaiapoi Ooriipany leasing the top flat of Fisher's Chambers as a tweed store (£20,000 worth of material thus being saved) , and it was connected with the main warehouse by a covered sloping passage way down which the water found an exit and fr^m thence through the ceiling to .the' offices below. Two exciting, incidents occured during the progress of the fire. At the Bedford I Row side, portion of the warehouse fell outwards on to Messrs Brown and Co.'s fruit auction mart, and completely wrecked half of the roof „ In the eastern wing a similar portion of wall fell into the enclosed courtyard; Three firemen working m the vicinity narrowly escaped serious injury. -, . Floor after floor of the immense premises, laden with tons of burning debris, twisted iron work etc., crashed downwards until finally the spectacle ofi a seething furnace was presented as the burning masses settled down into the cellar; The, glare and flames coiild be seed for miles V around. There was a. full muster of the different brigades, and between 8000 and 9000 feet of hose was' brought into use, several heads being laid across the tramlines at the : intersection . of High and Cashel streets. The new "bridges," enabling the cars! to pais over the hose, Avere used with perfect. success. The strong room was opened at 2.30 p.m., and the contents found to be intact, but ! slightly damaged by smoke which fourid its way through a fissure m the wall. A smaller safe also came through the ordeal unscathed.