LATER PARTICULARS.

Colonist, Volume L, Issue 12161, 8 February 1908, Page 3

LATER PARTICULARS.

Tho fire made its first appearance soon attef ten o'clock last night, and tvaa at once observed by some policeliien and pfisserS-by. The Fire Bri trade; wiijv were bolding tneir ann.uai' dirirler at the Liohh'eld street station, turned out with creditable gpevl. The fire, which started in a portion of Messrs Strange and Co.'s preini.seH facing Lichtield street, leaped through the building with remarkable speed. Ten minutes after the iirst flame had been noticed, thg three-storeyed brick building with n frontage of about two chains and a depth of over three chains, was blazing from top to bottom, with a tierce heat that drove all but the tiremen from that portion of the street mv mediately in front. The Fire Bri gade got" water on, but the jets made no apparent impression. The buildinir us'o:l by the furniture department of Messrs Strange and Co.'s business contained avast amount of inflammable material, and the tongues of flame that were flung high into the air lit up the whole cityt The intense heat would have rendered futile tho mo3t determined efforts to prevent the spread of the lire, and the crowd, which was : blocking all the sleets in the vicinity, felt assured that a spectacle with more than the U3ual share of j;hi'ili wris in prospect. The crowd was not disappointed. Before 10.:J0 the fire had attacked Messrs Ashby, Bergh and Co.'s promises, winch touched tie burning building at the back, and had made Its appearance in High street. This hardware wai'ehottse . became a raging furnace within a few minutes. A clatter of explosives with an occasional dull reverberation accompanied by spurts of flame from the windows showed that cartridges were exploding. The lower front; windows held cut fot a few minutes, but then they went, and sheets of flame came out over the footp..th. Tbe heat made adventurous even a hasty passage along tbo opposite footpath. Willing hands commenced at once to remove es much stock as j possible from the premises further , north, as it was clear that they werej doomed. The brigade was working, j and working hard. A number of ex- 1 lirefflen bad put in an appearance,! and the public assisted loyally, but their united efforts produced no results at all as far as could l& seen. The Fite Brigade was simply unable io cope with the outbreak, and some j thoilsands. of people received a lesson that will Hot be easily forgotten, regarding the advantage of a dec nt high pressure water supply. The fare worked along the roof from Messrs Ashby Bergh and Co.'s, and at 10.50 p.m. mado its ance at an upper window in the White Hart Hotel. Tbe glass cracked and felljout. There was a fiercer inxushof'air, a flicker, and then a flame, at the next window, and in twelve minutes later the hotel was burning right aloDg the upper storey, and blazing fragments from the windows were falling into the street. A fireman directed a hose into the interior from a. perilous position on a balcony, and he received a round of applause from tbe crowd* but the flames continued tv travels The premises between Ash by Bergh arid Co. 's and the White Hart Hotel wtiit one after the other. Freeman's confectionery shop; with the tea foom.s already ablate; became a mass of white flames; A few minutes after the fire first got a hold of Tribe and Co.'s. Hulbert and Slay maker's premises held out for a while, but then succumbed, and burned fiercely. Williamson and Co. 's chemist Shop went; and then Tucker's jewellery shop next door was swppt by the fire. in the meantime tte the fire had been aiaking disistrniM progress in Liohlield street. The flames jumped a right-of-way from Messrs Strange and and Co.'s building, and ran through Malcolm and Co. 's premises. Next i-ame Ilannan and Co. 's warehouse, which escaped for a while. The fire worked round behind, however, crossed another right-of-way, and er.tered Befljairin and Co.'s three-storied warehouse. The Fire Brigade received a good deal of criticism during the evening. It seemed to the observers that one jet would have saved Benjamin and Co. 's building, but the jet was not supplied, and the flames appeared at the windows in the upper storey, and soon engulphed the whole building in ruina. Next cania tho D.I. C.'s building, stretching right through from Cashel street to Lichfleld street, and it was evident that there was scant hope of sa\ ing that. The scene looking down the narrow right-of-ways, leading from Lichfield street, was a lurid one. Down the fiist could be seen the back portion of the White Hart Hotel, a inass'of roaring flame, fcJtrange'3 building, on the left, was throwing up tongues of blue flame, accompanied by a fierce heat, while on the other side Malcolm and Co. '3 building was blazing. Down the next right-of-way could be saen a portion cf Wardell's building, and in tho iear part of the White Hart Hotel, both, vomiting forth flames and throwing showers cf sparks, and red hot fragments over on to the next building. Hay man and Co. 's premises w°ro burning on tho right, and the flames working forward from the back of Benjamin and Co.'s buiding, lit up the left. The feature of the fire after midnight was the the cle-truction of the D.1,0. 's *premis9s, There had bean hopes that this building would be saved, and the Fira Brigade seemed to be devoting its beat efforts to this' end, but the fire won handsomely. Just before 12.30 a.m. a flicker of tiro appesred at an upper window facing Liol-iield street. Then the flames came with a rush, and in a few moments the whole of the front was blazing. The fire went back steadily and irresistibly right through to Cashel street,, and gutted tbe building if the New Zealand Clothing Factory, next to the west in Cashel stnet. and it shared in the fate of its larger neighbor, and it suuplied the last big blaze of the night. At 2.30 a.m. the fire was in hand, and the owners of the other ptemises in the blocu breathed again. The flames had eaten the heart out of the best block in tbe city, but they had not do-stroyed all that they might have reaped. The absence of wind had been the chief factor in producing this result. It is hard to estimate the damaee, but it is stated to bo between £300,000 and £500,000. { The water in all the tanks gave ou*, aDd the Railway fire engine pumped wat3r from the river.