THE WELLINGTON FIRE.

Star (Christchurch), Issue 6362, 17 December 1898, Page 6

THE WELLINGTON FIRE.

THE INQUEST. [Per Press Association.] " . ... WELLINGTON, Dec. 16. The inquest on. the recent fire was resumed this morning. J. Faulbaum was under examination most of the morning, but his account of the affair was the same as that already published. He considered the boarders in the portion of the hotel where he was had scarcely more than five minutes in which to escape from the time the fir?t alarm was given. When he was asked by a policeman, some two hours after his escape, if anyone was left on. the floor, he was positive that he replied that there were three men lip there. He felt certain that three men had perished, and was surprised to hear of the escape of Sharpies^ . He. did not think that rescue ladders would have been, of any use. After witness jumped no fireman could have lived in the smoke in the top corridor. The only time to have got down the : stairway would have; been at the' heels of the person who gave the' alarm'. The proof of the strength of the smoke lay in the fact that Blandford was found under -witness's' :bedroom -window. Deceased must have fallen, overpowered,, almost at the moment that witness jumped. He did not blame the Fire Brigade. in his own case. Witness judged his chances .of escape at the hands of the Fire Brigade from the time in which he had seen the Berlin Fire Brigade get to work. The- Berlin Brigade was a military body, the rriost perfect in the world in his opinion, and he did not think? that that Brigade". would have reached him in five minutes, whilst witness had only three or four minutes,' in which to escape. He did not think, that, anything could have been done to save Grear and Blandford, unless they had confined themselves to a closed room and made their appearance at the window. The smoke spread with' fearful rapidity. He had wondered, in reading the account of ( the inquest, how people who had not been oh the top floor could say that the floor was free for half an hour. There wer6 only three or four minutes of safety from the time of being awakened. On the conclusion of Faulbaum's evidence, the Coroner thanked him for having cleared up a grave doubt as to the length of time which the. occupants of the top flat had in which'to escape. Inspector Pender said that in all his experience he had never seen a fire travel so rapidly, and he. could not understand how the flames got into the new portion so quickly. It was generally believed, until the body of Grear was found, that everyone had escaped. The Fire Brigade seemed to be working very well indeed. He thought that a Jarge staff of permanent firemen should be employed at each station, and escape ladders should be on the ground at once. In Christchurch a chemical engine was used, and it was his opinion that it was most valuable in checking fire. He quoted from the police report to the Licensing Committee in 1896 to show that attention had been drawn to the fact that there were no rope 3 in the rooms at the Royal Oak. Some of the members of the committee then visted the hotel, "but hearing nothing further, he assumed that they considered the means ! of escape satisfactory. In June last witness carefully inspected every hotel in Wellington and. after examining the Royal Oak, he came to the conclusion -that the fire escape was quite sufficient. His impression was that ropes in rooms were very dangerous, as only smart, active men could use them. Everything had been done to make the fire escapes as efficient as possible. . This closed the evidence. After two hours' retirement the jury brought in the following verdict just before midnight : — . " We are of opinion that Messrs Grear and Blandford met their death by suffocation by smoke, and that their death was due to a false sense of 1 security, produced, by the fact that thoj were some distance from the scene of the fire, in the brick building, and they failed to expedite their exit, and were overtaken by the smoke ; that rapidly accumulated after they, were timely warned of their danger. We are of opinion that an error of judgment was made in not making a careful search of the new wing by the fire brigade, but this was partly due to statements made by persons who had escaped from the building that all were out safely, and it is regrettable that proper ladder appliances were not brought to the fire at an earlier period. After analysing the evidence, we are of opinion, that an error was made by the brigade in not concentrating their efforts more fully to the new wing at an earlier period of the fire. . Had th,ey done this the probabilities are that that portion of the "building might have been saved. The "jury consider that the fire originated in the kitchen, but there is no clear evidence to show how it occurred. We think that the Licensing Committee- or some responsible body should take into consideration the whole question of suitable fire escapes and alarms for hotels, public buildings and boardinghouses, and for this purpose experts should be consulted. We are of opinion that the appliances of the brigade are inadequate, that there are not sufficient permanent men, and that the brigade generally requires re-organising and re-con-struction. We desire to express our condolence with the relatives of tbe deceased persons who met their death in the five, and also with Mr Gilmer at the loss of a house so well conducted, and we believe that everything was done by him and his staff to save the lives of the inmates."