Fires.

Star (Christchurch), Issue 5096, 2 September 1884, Page 3

Fires.

At 20 minutes to 4 o'clock yesterday afternoon, the fire bells rang an alarm, the cause being a fire in Antigua street south. It appears that two men, Henry Naylor and George Bott, were passing along the street in question, when they noticed smoke issuing from a large building at the corner of Lumb's lane, belonging to Mr John Lumb, and formerly used by him as a general store. They found the doors locked, so Naylor broke that at the back open, while Bott gave an alarm from the electric signal-box in front of the Hospital. When Mr Naylor got in, he found a considerable body of fire in the house, n»ost of it being apparently in the passage and front shop. The house was full of furniture, as it was occupied by Mrs Lumb and her family, Mr Lumb being at present in Sydney. A couple of sewing machines and a few other articles were all that could be saved, owing to the rapid spread of the flames. The Fire Brigade and police soon arrived at the scene. The steamer Extinguisher was placed at the West Christchurch School bath, and the Deluge at the Hospital bridge. Owing to the distance' the water had to travel — over 3000 ft of hose were used altogether — it was some few minutes before a jet could be brought to play on the flames, and as these had gained considerable headway before they were discovered, in those few minutes the building became a mass of fire. Nothing could be done to save it, and the energies of the Brigade were chiefly directed to preserving a four-roomed cottage on the south side of it, which also belonged to Mr Lumb, and was occupied by Mr William Samuel Alloway, a coachbuilder. All Mr Alloway's furniture was saved, but some of it was much damaged in removal. The cottage, although not destroyed, was gutted, while Mr Lumb's house, a large wooden two-storeyed structure, containing about 15 rooms, w.as burned to the ground. It was insured for £200 in the Northern Insurance Company, and for JJ2OO in the United office ; and its estimated value was .£7OO. Mr Lumb's furniture was insured in the Australian Mercantile Union Office for .£250, but Mr Alloway's furniture was uninsured. The cause of the fire is unknown. Mrs Lumb went out for a drive to her farm at Upper Eiccarton, about an hour before the lire broke out, and states that she left evei'ything safe. One of her sons, a young man about 19, was at work in an outhouse some little distance from the back of the house, but he knew nothing of the fire till alarmed by one of the neighbours. When the smoke was first seen it appeared to be issuing from the south side of the roof. The cottage occupied by Mr Alloway was insured for .£l2O in the Northern Insmvuico Company. The damage done to it is estimated at about .£SO. At 20 minutes to 7 p.m., precisely threehours after the first alarm, the bells rang out a second time, and the firemen turned out. A glare in. the north-eastern part of the city afforded some justification for the alarm, but the Brigade felt somewhat hoaxed when they found that it was occasioned by a burning gorse hedge out^ido the North Belt, near the end of lJarbadoos street. Shortly after this a glare, as of a fire wus seen in the Avonside district, but no alarm was given. About two this morning another fire occurred but at a longdistance from town, in a /south-east direction. '