FIRES.

Timaru Herald, Volume XIIIC, Issue 13726, 16 October 1908, Page 5

FIRES.

A BIG biJa2e.: " a CORONATION BUILDINGS GUTTED., About 5 o'clock yesterday monting tins, wae discovered iu /Mr- T. drapery establishment, Coronation buUdTt> ings, Stafford '.'street north. .The; lire nn>j. p*«red u> have ii g«Ktd hold when tli* : alarm was given. The- brigades had'; a/.. long fight with it. and before it was. Miliy (ki«d tne main shop on' the ground Jloor,the showroom on one iside, and all tlirt workrooms upstairs were practieally gutted, and the rooting grtat.lv damagei.. t'oitunately the morning was .perfectly/'' calm, and the building being of bri%, : with goodparapeti walls; th» lire, did not tend to spread, and the attention of tlie brigade- could bo directed wholly -to «-. •tinguishing the flames that were devouring the content* of the building. ■? An examination of the ruins . dieelcats tie fact, which was apparent at rhe time of its discovery, -that the lire originated at or near the main entrance from the street, which opened into a. wide shop extending: tie full length of the. building. On either side were narrower sections, with separate street entrances. One- on the north was divided, the front portion ' beiu'gr ih-ed aujii show room, the. other as a store- for linb- 5 : leunis and carpets; The southern shop * was the mens clothing department. Tho main shop was fitted with shelving n)oi)if both waUs, and other tabke aud stages: . along the" middle. The tables aud th&r burden being light were completelv destroyed, and the slave's were prayflcaliy hurned-out at and near the front. Th-' wards tht» back, where, in the drees department especially, the shelve* werecrowded with clci?ely wound textiles, wliiie. the rolls-are much burned, thev will probably provide, some useful salvage, withW good deal of trouble in cutting-off tba : burned and singed-'portions.' The rear-/ -"'• ward portion was one storey, and tit.- wife:: epan of roof over it was 60* much damaged:/ that much of it fell, and a huge gap w-|s>; also made in the roof of the two-storev . portion over the workrooms.' Tim h conV» tents of the showroom wet* practically all destroyed, while the linoleum room behind suffered comparatively little. Vphe men> clothing shop Mas uot attacked till help arrived, and in epit© of it^'being full ofsmoke. ,the. efforts made to keep down th<v fire iu-this shop were successful.'though damage was done by smoke and water.-!A email office was situated in the main shop off the rear of this shop, and the 6?rtV in it is believed to hav* held its contents secure. A stairway led to the workrooms above, and the fire rushed up "this and consumed it, and ran freely through all the workrooms, destroying or jr. reirievably damaging evervthing.titer contained. .-'.-. v -.'■"'•

The brigade had a long fight with the fire, it being ,? o'clock before the jels could be whistled off, and still there were: smouldering bits to be attended to. The' brigade, Captain Campbell stated, had their, difficulties increased by the fact that the roof was sheathed with'felt to exclude; dust, and this material caught fire lvadil* and smouldered. Another source - of .difiioulty was the roof, which, im Ta>ual.,wf>« an enclosed, garret, and the firemen lutd to "quarry" n way through it to ; get.'qt the fire hurniug among the roof timbers. ' An examination of the pi-emisex after the fire disclosed that the blaze originated at or near the main entrance. Thi* Vv««s a wide recftssed doorway, with plate ghii% at each side of a recess, and larg* plnte glass windows ou either .side of the Wtrance. .Similarly weessed doorways fornred entrances to the entailer shop "at each side of \lw central portion. The windows were guarded and the recetaes enclosed by revolving shutters, -, when the shop was closed. The fire . evident I v burned most fiercely on the ground floor clftse to the main entrance, for. the woodwork about it » more .completely; charred, and the ceiling within m/ny ' dumaged.: ■thnu elsewhere. The dost met inn of Wie wooden shutter of the central door, arid the doom and plate glass front on tin.' .side ltt in a powerful draught that, carried the fire through- the rear and upstairk and by tho time the brigade arrived tli,> central section from 'front to rear. <iml (he workrooms upstairs, were all abliiKc. Mr Thomson will be a heavy Itsfcr. He ♦etimates that his stock was worth at least £12,000, cost price, and his insnrances on the stock were onlv £6500. He had also a cover of £2sC6'on th> building, and £llO on the plate glass windows. The office* interested are iheNational. Standard, Victoria, New Zealand, North Rritish. Royal Exchange. Royal, and North Queensland. Fortunately the walls of the handsome fronted building d,o not seem to have. be«>n damaged. The two blu<stone eolumntJ supporting the ferroconcrete. brei*Hmer ov.-t the front, on each side of the moiu entrance, werv badly chipjied by'.the. lirat. or by the- wafer chilling the ' hot ' fcin'nc though their .value- as Mipnoriti* was probably not lessened.

-Much sympathy was felt and exprttCNl for Mr-Thomson, who, of course, fe<-bi acutely tlie <{j>n.ster which Imk befulleii him. in the direct Iceii and the dislocation of his btisimve; but with chanicu-rbiHV eneiijy ho is making phuw for rrkumihg bi>:iii.>ss- with the least possible delnv. Ah to the origin' of thu fire,* one plausible suggf M ion'him Ih'i-ii nflVie:!. Mr Thnni,:on Jnii? iiiipies.>ed his Muff, with ih,. <lu!y of carefulness with rrgaid to fir*. nii<l it !>5 not likely that nnv remityines* on their part io to hj- blamed'for the outbreak. Tin- fttißges t ion lvfened to, whether it is the title explanation or not, contains a warning to other shopkeeper.;. It wan Mr Thomson's custom to exhibitRoods outside the shop, and at the b i ( | t , 4 of the doorway tveesws; thene r< eem,; were not chared wlin .iroinj,' up. nod when in a hurry (mi in closing up for th> half holiday) the goods that |,,.„| |, rM , jilaivd ouifiide the windrnvN were placed in the retvii.«tv. and wefe cnnsideied p.af(> wln-n th- revolving blinds were hauled down and made fast. There wvn . „„„„. jK'oplo about the tdrcitM in the r-mnll lioui> of ywierdav moininj., m;,„ v „f ,j wm utnok-ers and a match careh.vslv throw.i down m><ihi lwv.- rolled l»i>iie.ith the blind, which did not lit quite tight to the eomrvie doorntep. Th.« fact that the lire waited there (jives a liigh decree of pro. liability to this mgitcs-ijoH. ~, i.-niiirked. it /dioiihl l>e a nainhi}; to other simple. «-p, n, to the <ljiij{. r of Mich an i.tianpcuKiit. And aej.dn the cii.le/,.1 e.«ilet roof proved its eflicacy as a incani* of lialn|ie|-in K the efforts ~( ' ,)„, brigade lo extmguicdi the fire.

A lire w.„i di coven .1 in some the rear of Mull.ini. tleraldine Hot el v«. J'-rday morning at J» o'cl,„k. A biol.-i, brigade and some Mnall hw , h-rkfd the lire nil the brigade airiv.d Tliant*. to a i phn.i.d prt«,ure ..f w.,!- r , ~( , d i|, r ..,. Jic.-iuy of the lil-mh-rs of the ihe lire «.,s veon stibduid.