A MIDNIGHT BLAZE

Taranaki Daily News, 24 October 1930, Page 6

A MIDNIGHT BLAZE

FITZROY HOUSE DESTROYED. OUTSIDE BRIGADE DISTRICT. \ Believed to have been started by a spark from the dining-room open -fire, fire destroyed a five-roomed house in -" Queen’s Road, Fitzroy, shortly after, midnight this morning. The owner, Mr. V. Peters, was awakened by the sound of a piece of burning timber •falling and found the kitchen and dining-room, in the rear portion of the house, burning strongly. He immediately telephoned for the fire brigade. The house, situated just outside the borough boundary, was also outside the brigade’s area and beyond reach of its firefighting system,' When the brigade 'arrived it was able to keep the adjoining house of Mr. Randall from catching, alight. A young man returning home, Mr. Walter F. Vincent; noticed flames and smoke coming from the rear of the house and awakened Mr. Randall in his house toward which the flames were being carried by the wind. When Mr. Peters'returned from telephoning he found the house blazing fiercely and was able to save one table from a front room, and very few personal belongings. His eon escaped at the same time as his father. Mrs. Peters was staying in another part of New Plymouth. Finding it was impossible to save any more of his effects Mr. Peters and his son helped their neighbours to remove the furniture from Mr. Randall’s house. Fortunately, 1 this action was not necessary.

The burned building was insured for £7OO and the furniture for £2OO in the Standard Office.

The glare of the fire was noticed over a wide area. The house burned .quickly, leaving only a concrete chimney standing within an hour after the start of the fire.