EXPLOSIONS IN SEWER

Taranaki Daily News, 21 February 1935, Page 7

EXPLOSIONS IN SEWER

MAN’S NARROW ESCAPE

WRECK OF PUMPING STATION.

SERIOUS BURNS OF EMPLOYEES.

PETROL LEAKS IN DRAIN SYSTEM. By Telegraph--Press Association. Auckland, Last Night. Fumes from petrol which had found its way into the Freeman’s Bay sewerage system were responsible for two loud explosions at the Auckland and Suburban Drainage Board’s pumping station in Fanshawe Street this afternoon. The interior of the station was wrecked and three members of the staff who were on duty received injuries. One of them, Roderick McLeod, an electrician, who was working in the pumping chamber at the bottom of a manhole 40 feet below the floor of the station, had a miraculous escape, and it was only his coolness and judgment that saved hirn from almost certain death. The fumes of benzine had been noticed about the station for some days and members of the staff were warned against taking any unnecessary risks. It was believed the benzine was entering the sewer system' somewhere on the Freeman’s bay reclamation, and careful investigations were being made to locate the cause.

Messrs. F. Wilson, the Drainage Board’s foreman, and Owen Wilson, second assistant at the station, were in the control room at the street level this afternoon and Mr. McLeod was at the bottom of the pumping room shaft, when the accumulated gases exploded with a terrific roar. This was followed almost immediately by a second explosion. The first explosion closed the door of

the control room, trapping Messrs. Owen and F. Wilson, both of whom were badly burned and received a severe shock. The second explosion, however, blew the door out and they were able to escape. ROOM BURNING FIERCELY. The room was now burning fiercely, the flames being fed by the gases ascending from the sewerage tank shaft alongside the pumping room shaft. An engine from the city fire station responded to an immediate call and the fire was quickly suppressed, mainly by the use of a chemical extinguisher.

Meanwhile, Mr. McLeod had been alarmed by the terrific explosion above, and almost immediately gases which had found their way into the pumping shaft exploded, filling the pumping room with scorching flames and leaving overpowering fumes behind. Mr. McLeod crouched low, seeking any air that might be left, and covered his head with his singlet.

Noticing that the cloud of white vapoilr left by the explosion in the shaft was slowly ascending, he started ‘to climb cautiously behnd it, and, almost ten minutes after the first explosion, he emerged through the trap door in the floor of the control room, to the amazement of ■ firemen and others who had been trying to locate him in the sewerage shaft. The three men were taken to the Auckland Hospital. It was found that Mr. Owen Wilson was badly burned about the head and arms, and his condition is serious. He is a single man living at One Tree Hill. Mr. F. Wilson, who is married, was suffering from burns about the'face and, arms, but after treatment was able to return to the pumping station. Mr. McLeod, also a married man, was suffering mainly from shock, his only burns being to the hands as the result of grasping an exposed electric wire when he was climbing out of the shaft. He was also able to leave the hospital after treatment.