70 FIRE ENGINES RUSH TO SCENE OF LONDON BLAZE.

Star (Christchurch), Issue 18043, 31 December 1926, Page 1

70 FIRE ENGINES RUSH TO SCENE OF LONDON BLAZE.

BUILDING L IN DOCKLAND GUTTED. r- ■ (Special to the “Star.” ) JF LONDON, October 26. The chemical works of Messrs Fox.. 'Stockell and Co., brokers and merchants, which stand seven storeys high 'on the riverside at. Cubitt Town. E., Caught fire shortly before two O’clock jjpesterday afternoon and were gutted. , Several hundred tons of resin, as well jas other chemicals, were stored in the "building, which soon became a roaring [furnace. Throughout the evening barrels of Jyesin burst with loud explosions, and |ehook the neighbouring houses, and [could be heard in Poplar. Greenwich, [and Charlton. j A “brigade - ’ call was circulated and seventy engines and escapes were [{rushed to the spot. The building, enveloped in dense black smoke, with flames shooting through with every gust of wind, could [not be approached. Firemen, with gas masks, perched high on an adjoining building, directed jets of water into the centre of the tire. From the river three fire floats other endless streams. WALL FALLS IX. i* A crane, leaning out over the river, fcollapsed when a wall fell in, and j jfcrashed into a barge below. ; The firemen were able to keep the pames from spreading to a machinery «tore and workshops adjoining, and a fcpaint factory. Unsuccessful efforts were made to prove from the vicinity of the fire two Uoaded barges, which were in the centre liof the wharf. , Colonel Fox, of the Salvage Corps, Expressed his opinion that the firemen £would be engaged all night, and it was that sooner or later the rbuilding would collapse. At midnight {building was still a mass of flames, i At times the flames, which could {plainly be seen from office roofs in the West End of London, shot forty feet |in the air. i > The fire started shortly before two fio’clock, while the workmen were at Vlinner, and Mr Fox, a member of the fcfirm, said it started through the fusing lof a cable in a crane box. I The outbreak was discovered by R. tKemp, a nineteen-year-old employee, fwho chanced to return from his lunch gather earlier than the others. b Albert Brittan, of Hamilton Street, ebtford, had his hand badly hurt, and ►was taken to Poplar Hospital, but ■Sapart from this there were no casualties. Kemp stated that he and his fellow V-orkers were almost suffocated by the dense fumes given off by the burning iresin. ROOF CRASH. i “We put wet cloths over our faces, powever,’’ he said, “and so managed rto carry on till the firemen came. It “was anything but an easy job, because, ‘in addition to the smoke, we had to * contend with a regular shower of burning resin. | “The crane-box in which the blaze [started was situated on the first floor, £ and when we first got our hoses going ;we went into the building and tried 1 to keep the flames within bounds. With ’ so much resin about, however, that was \ quite impossible. | “The more water we poured on to it, I the more vigorously it seemed to burn. It was not long after the brigade arrived that the roof fell in and soon f after that one of the walls went.