DWELLING HOUSE RAZED

Taranaki Daily News, 15 April 1935, Page 7

DWELLING HOUSE RAZED

HIGH WIND FANS FLAMES

SPECTACULAR WESTOWN BLAZE.

HASTY ESCAPE OF OCCUPANTS.

FIREMEN FACE HOPELESS TASK.

Fanned by the howling southerly gale of Saturday night, fire completely destroyed a seven-roomed wooden house owned and occupied by Mr. A. H. Huggett, a Westown wood and coal merchant. Aroused from their sleep at 10.20 o’clock by Mr. Huggett, who had been awakened by the sound and smell of burning timber, the family escaped from the building with only a few personal belongings, hastily collected. The fire ran through the old building with" astonishing speed and had a firm hold long before the arrival of the brigade which had not the remotest chance of saving anything of the building or its contents. After running out 850 feet of hose from the nearest hydrant in Clawton Street, the firemen concentrated mainly on the tall pine trees which surrounded the building and which were burning fiercely, and scattering showers of dangerous sparks down the wind. The blaze was the most spectacular seen at New Plymouth for some time and attracted many hundreds of spectators, whose cars congested the upper end of Tukapo and side streets until nearly midnight. The glare was clearly visible in the east end of the town and gave rise to alarming rumours that a section of Westown was in danger. Fortunately, however, the house stood well back from the road and there are no other buildings in the vicinity. The fire brigade receiyed the call at 10.27 o’clock and arrived at the hydrant in fast time. Mr. Huggett, however, had had a long run to the nearest alarm box in Davis Street, so that, with the time taken to run out a considerable quantity of hose and the delay in giving the alarm, the fire was well beyond control before the first jet of water from the small, terminal main was played on it. Roof and walls collapsed and threw sparks and debris a hundred feet into the air. The entire structure was burned to ash and a few charred beams within half an hour.

It is understood that both building and furniture were covered by insurance.