THE FATAL FIRE.

Star (Christchurch), Issue 12176, 27 November 1917, Page 5

THE FATAL FIRE.

INQUEST OK VICTIMS. INTERESTING EVIDENCE. An adjourned inquest into the cause of death of Mrs Elsie Stack, Mrs J. P. Smith, Henry H. Beere, Frederick W. Hatch, Thomas Edward Gledhill and Thomas D. Smith, the victims of the fire at the "Silver Grid" on November 19, was conducted at the. Magistrate's Court this morning by Mr T. A. B. Bailey. District Coroner. Mr G. Harper wattehod the proceedings for the Christ-church Fire Board, and Mr H. H. Lough nan for the City Council. Senior-Sergeant Woblmann represented the police. POLICE EVIDENCE. Senior-Sergeant wohlmann said that the police had interviewed most of those who, it; was ascertained, were in the building at the time of the fire. The statements of all in regard to the alarm wore, somewhat similar. Only three or tour essential witnesses, who could give evidence as to where the fire began and the finding of the bodies, had been called at present. Constable J. W. Nesbitt stated that! he was on duty on the morning of November 10 in Manchester Street, and passed the "Silver Grid" about 2.25 a.m. There was no sign of fire. He went down to St. Asaph Street and inio Colombo Street, returning by St Asaph Street to Manchester Street. There was no sign of fire then. He went down to Moorhouso Avenue and t'o Colombo Street, where, he mei Sergeant M'Rao. They walked together to the corner of Colombo Street and St Asaph Street, and there they snw the reflection of the fire, and 'he gav.» the alarm. That was about 2.45 a.m. He ran along Tuam Street, and saw the Fire Brigade. Fight or nine men were standing; on the street near the Opera House. He, did not see any of the inmates try to leave bv the front. Mrs Smith was lying on the footpath. It was only a few minutes from line, time he gave the alarm until he reached the. scene. Nobody in t.h>> building oomd have escaped. To Mr Loughnan,: The footboards on the. verandah were burning when he reached the building. SUPERINTENDFXT WARNER. C- Warner, Superintendent of the Christehureh Fire Brigade, said that the brigade received the alarm an 2-37 a.m. from a street lire alarm in Manchester Street. The brigade turned out. He. saw flames down Manchester Street, and found that the "Silver Grid " was on fire. The cables in the street were about twenty feet high, and the. flames from the top floor were as high as the cables. Flames also were coming from the skylight on the north side of the building. Two reels immedia.tfoly were got to work from Lichfield Street, and two from Tuam Street, one working on the back of the building, and the other on the side. Ho inquired if there was anybody left in the building, but could get! no definite reply. About 2.45 a.m., however, a man named Williams ran out of Tuam Street and said that a woman was in the building. He, got a ladder from the motor and a fireman got the extension plant. They were erected against the building, and witness ascended'and entered the building. He got in by the front door of the balcony, went down the passage, and reached the first door on the right leading into the girls' sitting room. The fire was raging in the room. He, saw two bodies lving there. He lifted the. first body, thar;"of Mrs Stack, and saw that she was dead. He carried the body out of the room and placed it in the passage, opposite room 29. He entered the room again and lifted out', the second body, that, of H. H. Beere. He took it, into the passage, and called for assistance. Beere was alive and gasped as witness placed-him in the passage. O'n reaching the street lie found that the ambulance already had gone to the hospital. J-feere was sent to the hospital. A fireman who had been on the verandah, called out that there was another body inside. It was found to be Gledhill. He also was sent to the hospital. There was considerable difficulty in keeping him from re-entering the building. About 3 a.m. Fireman Davis reported that a body was on the floor in room 10. The body was fullv dressed. It was that of F. W. Hatch. It' was taken to the morgue. About 3.20 a.m. a fireman reported that there was a man's trunk lying across the rafters of the skylight. It was that of Thomas D. Smith, and was taken down, and it: also war, sent to the morgue. He gathered, from his observation, that the, fire originated on the ground floor, near the office. Everything possible was done for the. sufferers. He wished to place on record the, services of the Salvation Army officers at the People's Palace. To Senior-Sergeant Wohlmann : The office was near the staircase, practically in the. centre of the building, a little to the south. The staircase acted as a funnel and a ventilator, and created a draught. It cut the occupants off from the hack, where there wore fire escapes. There were two at the back and one at the side. From the front there was no means of escape except along the wooden grating, eighteen incites wide, on tb<-> balcony. Before the brigade arrived flames had hurst out of the front, window of the ground floor and had broken the glass of the verandah, which was a source of serious danger to anybody who ventured on it. From his general experience, he said that, that style of verandah was dangerous, especially on lodging-houses and other places whore many people lived. To the Coroner: The means of escape in the front of the building were not sufficient. He would suggest, an iron fire escape, with a ladder leading to the, street.

To tin-' Senior-Rergormf: The City Council w.-m responsible for seping that adequate fire escapes were provided al buildings. Ho did not, know if thorp wns a regular inspection of buildings, but he had inspected tlio Troendero and some other Inrce bu'l dines n it'hout authority, for own satisfaction.

To Mr Harper: Tt took the brigade about throo minute to reach tlio fire after the alarm was given. There was a clause in the Fire Pr'gados Act which defined his duties in respect to buildings. That, clause had reeeived judicial interpretation in rnf.es in which he had hepn Mivolved. Tf the. wooden grating on the verandah had been 2ft ton wide, in accordance with the City Council's by-laws, it would not have been an adequate fire esenpe. but it woU''d have given the inmates a better ehanee to escape. Even if the glass of the verandah hnd not been broken bv the flames, the verandah still would have, been dangerous.

THE PROPRIETOR'S EVIDENCE. John Pen ival Smith, proprietor of the " Silver Grid." stated that he took over the. business five years ago from Alfred Burns, now in Melbourne. Burns hnd a fourteen years' lease. Witness pnid £lB5 for the fnmature-. Harris Brothers were the agents, and he paid them a monthly rent. The business pnid him very well. 'The building was only pnrtjy furnished when lie took it over, and he added to the furniture. The furniture, and effects wore' vnlued at £Moo. There was a por'.ry for £250 in the Phoenix Compnny, whieh covered the furniture, birr not the stock, of which there was about. £6O in the budding. He had n ton of coal a.nd potatoes and soft drinks taken in the day before the fire. In the building at the time of the fire there was the best part of a. chest of tea. The salvage was worth only about £o. Mrs Smith kept the 'lodgers' book. Possibly there."were persons in tho building whoso names did. not appear in the book amongst -he entries for the

day before the fire He was at Ralswell on that day, and did not get horn* 1 until 7 p.m. He remained in the house: until Ik- retired, about 11.15 p.m. He scoured th e doors, back front, before be retired. As far as he could see, when he want upstair?, everybody seemoff to be. in bed. Mrs Smith and he, retired together. She. stood at the top of the stairs while be put out the lights- The lighting downstairs wa* by electricity. In t'h* passages ur>stairs there was gas, and candles were used in the bedrooms. All the fires were out. After the evening meal no fuel was placed on the kitchen fire. The gas meter was in the offi'jbe. The, gas never was turned off at the meter. It was a, shilling-in-the-slot meter. The doors of the office were not fasten ed. mid anybody in the building would have access to it. He turned out the ga-s in the- passages, and the building, as far as that was concerned, was in darkness when he retired, but the street lightis_ lighted the front rooms and parts of the passages. In going: along the passages he saw a light in room 15. occupied by Thomas D. Smith. Hp wa,s awakened by a crash, which seemed to come from the big front windo.v downstairs. Mrs Smith was awakened at the. same moment, both starting up in bed- They rushed omtl on to the verandah. Hp'knocked at the girls' room, which wa,s off the verandah, and called to the girls. Mrs Smith then was with him on the verandah. He went to the. passage and shouted to the people. When he opened the bedroom door tli?- heat almost forced him hack, and he could see flip flames flickering. The flames then were coming up through the <dass llip hark of the building then was cut off from the front. When he returned ?-n v ; e '" Bnr]fin ' Mrs Smith was there still. He helped Miss Joyce through a bedroom window, and Miss Jovcp ass.sted Mrs Stack to get out. Both Miss Joyce and Mrs Stark were on the, verandah. Fie was positive of that, Ho jumped on to th? wooden crating on the verandah. Mrs Smith "followel. Names wer P coming through the. verandah. Mrs Stark then was dressed m white. From the verandah Mrs hmith and be returned m their room. He threw up the window to get through. He put out his arm, to take, hold of his wife, but she seemed to pass behind him. a.nd like a flash to roll over the verandah. Through the broken glass of the verandah, h P saw Mrs Smith on the footpath. He turned to help Miss Joyce. She partly slinprd through the glass of the verandah. Miss Joyce and he then got along to the next window, and got into Moore's shop adjoining. He went back, expecting to find Mrs Stack, but she had disappeared. He called out, }t,tf, received no answer. He then went back into Moore's and attended to his wife, who was unconscious. There wer» boarders (here, some fully dressed. Miss Joyce remarked that Mrs Stark was not there. He was convinced that a glass verandah was a death-trap. One of the fire escapes at the bark had been let down to the ground several days previously, and across could havo been obtained to the building throunh it-

Continuing his evidence, after the luncheon adjournment, witness said (hat he could make no suggestion as to the origin of the fire. The house had been inspected several times by. the municipal authorities. There were two tiro escapes, but outside, this there was no material in the way of ropes, ladders, etc.. which would be an aid to escape in case of fire. MISS JOYCE'S EVIDENCE.

Sylvia Joyce, a sister-in-law to ilio previous witness, said that for some time previous to the lire she was a waitress at the "Silver Grid" Board-ing-house. Hatch had spent the greater part of the day previous to the. fire in his room. Gleclhill had been at the boarding-house only a few days, and she could not say whether he was in the habit of reading in bed. She had gone to bed at eleven o'clock on the night, in question, and no fires were burning in any of the rooms. 31rs Stack had gono to bed previously. She had left no lights burning, when she went to bed. Tho first intimation she had that, anything was wrong was the noise oi ; ,.(a king gla,ss. AYhen she opened her bedroom door she found the passage full of smoke- Her brother-in-law had helped her to open the windows, and the pair of them helped Mrs Stack through tho window on to the balcony. Mrs Stack was very scantily clad at the time. Witness went along to Smith's door, but then found thai Mrs Stack had not followed her. Evidently she returned to procure a coat. Witness lost practically everything as_ a result of the fire. She could not account for the outbreak of fire. A BOARDER'S EVIDENCE. Frederick Richard Woodley Perrin. a labourer, said tha>t he had been in the habit of staying at the Silver Grid when in town for a day or two. On the Jn.sti occasion ho came into town on November 15 and occupied room 22 until, the night of tho fire. On the night) of the firo ho retired to bed at nine o'clock. He left no lights burning in his room, and the first he knew of the outbreak was tho sound of breaking glass and someone calling " Fire." He tried to get to the stairs, but found it impossible owing to the fire and. smoke. AYhen he left, his room the fire was breaking through the floor near his bedroom. Judging by what he saw it, would be impossible for anyone to escape from room 15. He escaped bv the back fire escape near the Opera, House, and by the ttmie ho got round to 'the front, of the building the fire engine* had arrived and were already at "work. He could not suggest any cause of the fire. THE CORONER'S FINDING. Tho Coroner, in .giving his verdict, drew attention to the very incomplete arrangements made for an escape from fire. In the present case there was a narrow board running along a gla.ss verandah and there was no means of getting to the ground from the verandah. One would have to walk a'kmg the board and escape through the window of Ihe next-door building. The Coroner's finding was as follows: -

"Thai the said Elsie Stack, Fredprick Will/am Hatch and Thomas David Smith died on the 19th, the. said Annie Smith and Thomas Edward Gledhill on the 20th, and the said Henry Herbert Beere on the '2lst day of November, 1917, at Christchurch; that the. cause of death of the said Frederick William Hatch was suffocation and of the other deceased persons shock from bums received. The cause of flip suffocation and burns was a fire, which occurred in a boarding house known as the Silver Grid, in Manchester Street, Christohurch, leased by John Percival Smith, but there is no evidence to show how the h reoriginated. The evidence, shows that the means provided for escape in case of tire were not sufficient for that part of the building lying to the front of the staircase." • The Ooronor said that he wished to add the following rider tin the. verdict: 1. That 'it, is not desirable that verandahs roofed with glass should, be permitted on any buildings used ns boarding-houses or for public purposes. 2. Til at it is desirable; in all fire districts the same, power of inspection of means of escape in case of fire "b P given to the supfrinipndent of the Fire Brigade in respect of boarding-houses and similar public buildings as is n.yy given to hi in by tho Fire Brigod.-s Act in respect of places of public amusement.