BLAZE AT NAPIER.

Poverty Bay Herald, Volume XLI, Issue 13394, 30 May 1914, Page 7

BLAZE AT NAPIER.

OCCUPANTS' HAVE NARROW ESCAPE,

SHEETS KNOTTED TOGETHER

A fire broke out in Mrs Clatworthy^s boarding-house, Cameron • road, just^ before midnight on .Thursday . last, when that building, which- consisted of lb rooms, together with : the furniture and all the boarders' effects, .was totally destroyed. How the outbreak occurred isia mystery, but those who saw it first .believe that the flames must have had their origin within the dining-room, which was _on the ground Hoor in the front portion of the house. The discovery (states the Telegraph) seems to have been made simultaneously by several persons, and the boarders were at once aroused. At that time the lower portion of the house was a seething mass of flames, and the inmates had to make "a very hurried exit, many of them gaining 1 the street in nothing but their night clothes. The staircase could not be used by the threatened people, and the fire^escapG prbved its worth, all the inmates gaining safety. It was thought that some persons, including Mrs (Capt.) Gardale, had been, u.uablo to quit the burning building) and there was much anxiety as to theii 1 fate. It was soon discovered, however, that the missing people had naturally taken the quickest route away from the burning house to places of safety, and all tho neighboring houses proved to be a shelter for somebody, but ill-clad for such a bitterly cold night. ( There were about twenty persdiiß resident in the. building, and, fortunately, all of them made their escape Without injury. Meantime the fire had got a complete hold of the upper I portion of the • house before the tire brigades arrived. It appears that owing ■4o the intense anxiety concerning the fate of some of the inmates, the Napier brigade did not receive a direct call. The first intimation that reached the Central Station was the ringing of the Millar street bell. The flare was by that, time seen from the Port, and the alarm was sounded there also. Both brigades, having got the news,, made a very quick response to. the urgent call. When the fire-fighters arrived on the j scene, they lost no time in attacking the outbreak with determination, but the total destruction of the building was only a question of a ievv minutas. The water^ pressure, . as is to be expected on the high -hills, was not yery grand, and th© firemen turned their attentions to the task of saving the. adjoining houses. The flames spread with such rapidity that the whole of the- building appeared td be burning at once, alnd the residences on the surrounding hills and the lower portion of the town were brilliantly lighted up for miles around. The heat was intense, and the adjoining houses were in imminent danger for some little time. When, the exterior walls fell on the western side they . crashed into Mr Peters' residence, but the prompt action of the, firemen saved that building from being more than slightly damaged. Just how all the inmates managed to makfc their escape is -not 'known, and as there was much excitement at the time, the full facts, will probably never be discovered. Mr 6. S. Bates was apparently the first person inside the houstf to" discover the danger they were -in, and he had to quit the building per the back balcony. He then ascended the lire escape, and did his best to assist his fellow-boarders. Captain and Mrs Cardale had remarkable escapes. They were cut off by the flames,. but the' former lowered his wife to the ground' by means of a couple of sheets knotted together, and he used the same means in getting himself out. How Mrs Clatworthy got out seems a matter of mystery^ but she was later found safe, but suffering a. great deal from shock, at her parents' residence, which was situated jiist below the site of the destroyed buildin"-. Many of the other inmates we're forced to use the windows in order to roach safety, and it is a matter for congratulation that all the inmates were nblp to'find their way out of the burning building. „';. „,. ,^ „ '