FIRE AT TEMUKA.

Timaru Herald, Volume XIC, Issue 13397, 21 September 1907, Page 7

FIRE AT TEMUKA.

J'OUR SHOI'.S llL'llXlin. An alarm i>f lire was rung on the Temuka- fire-bell bluntly after 1 a.m. yesU'rdav, ami as a. Wrong gale was blowing at the time. Hie outbreak was rendered the mure alarming. Tlie. result' was tluiL four small and somewhatold wooden shops, on the main street between the Tomuka Hotel and Mr C. Bates' shop, together with all their contouts, were completely destroyed, nothing b.-ing left but the cellars and the iron of the ri.-c.rs. The hotel and Mr Bate.-,' shop are of brick, and the parapeted walls of tlifso buildings confined the lire un each -side. Two of the shops destroyed belonged to Mrs Bates, -and these were occupied by Mr Anguy. plumber and tinsmith, and Miss Cameron, tobacconist. The other two, next the- hotel, belonged to Mig Kornbrook (mortgaged to Mr Civile) and were occupied by Mr Winn, photographer, and bv Strange- and Co., as a sample room. The fire is believed to have started at the rear of the tobacconist's shop. Mire Cameron closed the shop for the half holiday at 1 p.m. and was in it again for it few minutts about 5 p.m., No suggestion could be mads as to the origin of the fire. Mr Angus and family lived in a dwelling attached to the shop, and forming part- of the building, and he was aroused, half suffocated by smoke. A son of Mr H. Clinch living on the opposite side of the street was aroused about- the came time, and he van down and rang the bell and stalled out with the fire engine by himself. The wind whs blowing n- gale at the time- and it was impossible to -fare the buildings, and the fire made a clean sweep of them. The heat broke some windows- of the hotel, and some damage was done to furniture by water. On the other side, the flames curled round tinder Mr Bates' tall verandah and broke into small fragments a plate of glass lift, by 10, cracked a second plate, and curled up some of the iron of the verandah top. On both sides the rains of brick walls and parapets was well illustrated. The wind blew the flames almost across the street, and the hob air singed considerably the front of two shops opposite, Mrs E. Clinch's tea, rooms and Mrs Fifield's fruit shop. Harry Clinch, jun., earned great kudos by the plucky way he .kept a hose playing on these fronts "when it was impossible to pass along the street on account of the heat. His father's shop was ignited two or three tiiiKG, but the young amateur brancliman managed to extinguish the fire. The front windows were- destroyed by the heat, and stock within was damaged by heat and waterL The strength of the gale was riot less shown in the state of outbuildings that had stood close to the rear of the shops destroyed, they bsing scarcely scorched at all.

'The insurances were as follows:- —-Mrs Bates' buildings destroyed £450 in the Royal; Angus's stock, £l5O "in the Manchester ; Miss Cameron's stock £2OO in the Norwich Union; Winn's stock, £75 in the Phoenix; Strange'* stock, iIIZC. in tha Norwich Union and £ICO in the Victoria j Mrs Hornbrook's buildings -were uninsured. A policy had lapsed a few days before and it- was to have bean renewed by the mortgagee on Thursday, but ho declined to accept the terms offered by the Royal. Mr Bates was insured and this verandah will probably take £SO to repair. Twenty-five pounds may cover ths damage done to Mr Crannitih's hotel, and a similar sum Mr Clinch's loss by damage to stock. The fire is said to have impressed upon Temuka 2>eop!e the necessity for an improved water supply and improved flrefightiiijr appliances.. Tlk> fire engine, a very old manual, whose days of usefulness have long gone by, is incapable of throwing a jet of water over a one-storey building, i'.nd the onlookers were treated to the edifying spectacle of a bucket brigade doing what the fire engine was incapable of accomiilishing—preventing a building on the opposite side of the road from catching fire. , _____