FIRE DOWN COAST.

Thames Star, Volume LXIII, Issue 17680, 3 September 1929, Page 5

FIRE DOWN COAST.

HOUSE TOTALLY DESTROYED. NOTHING SAVED AT KERITA. MR. RUSSEK’S ILL-FORTUNE. A most unpleasant experience was that of Mr W ( . Russelc and family on Sunday when they returned from a picnic on one of the beaches down the Coast, to find their residence at Kerita a smouldering heap.

Mr Riissek and his family left home about 10 o’clock on Sunday morning to hold a picnic on one of the beaches, and when they . left everything appeared to be in perfect order. On their return about three o’clock for the purpose of milking, they found that fire had broken out in their absence, and that the house had been totally consumed. At present they can put forward no reason for the outbreak, and it is not known in which room it started.

When the family arrived on .the scene there was no hope of saving anything, for the building was just a smouldering ruin. They will be very heavy losers, for although the. house was insured for £SOO it was a comparatively new seven-roomed dwelling, and was valued at £BOO. The furniture also was covered by a policy of £IOO, but the actual value is stated to be not less than £250, so that the loss will he a severe one. Absolutely nothing was saved from the flames, and it seems strange'' that the fire was not noticed by some of the relief workers who are employed a few miles away. In the meantime the family is being accommodated by neighbours, <who have come to the assistance of them in a most helpful manner.