TRAPPED BY FLAMES

Taranaki Daily News, 22 December 1932, Page 8

TRAPPED BY FLAMES

’ FRENZIED FACTORY GIRLS. ; FIFTEEN TAKEN TO HOSPITAL. Fifteen persons, mostly girls, were re- ; moved to hospital suffering from shock . and injuries as the result of a serious i fire that broke out in the premises of ; C.T.C. Bazaars, Cape Town, South Africa. The building was a two-storeyed one, closely hemmed in. The fire started on the ground floor when a sudden flash of flame, accompanied 'by an explosion, rose from a large receptacle in which firewor’-s were stored. It is presumed that somebody thoughtlessly threw a lighted cigarette into the receptacle. Within a minute of the explosion a large section of the ground floor was enveloped in flames, which spread rapidly to the second floor, where there were between 30 and' 40 girls, all of whom were trapped. Fortunately, directly opposite was the large warehouse of D. Isaacs and Company, whose general manager, realising the tremendous- possibilities of the fire and the imminent danger in which the entrapped shop assistants were, got some of his senior men to run up twp extension ladders. The g : rls, most of whom were panic-stricken, realising that the ladders were their only means of escape, hastily queued up and shakily made their way down. . The manager, of Isaacs and Company had meanwhile also got carpets out. These were held by men to enable some of the girls to jump into them. One girl, however, got her dress caught in a signpost and missed her footing, falling into the street and breaking her ankle. Most of the girls were suffering from shock and were carried into the shop of Isaacs and Company, where restoratives were applied and they gradually recovered.

Hundreds of people choked tne streets in the immediate vicinity and reinforcements of police were rushed up to clear the way for the fire brigade, but owing to a hitch it was ten minutes before they were able to start fighting the flames. Firemen from all stations were summoned with their fire-escapes, and scon all got down to serious work, attacking the fire from three different points. They had the greatest difficulty in entering the premises owing to dense volumes of smoke, but after a quarter of an hour’s work the fire was got under control. The premises were completely burned.