HUGE BLAZE WHEN WELLINGTON CITY BLOCK IS BURNED.

Star (Christchurch), Issue 18623, 27 November 1928, Page 10

HUGE BLAZE WHEN WELLINGTON CITY BLOCK IS BURNED.

DAMAGE MAY TOTAL QUARTER OF A MILLION.

Per Press Association. WELLINGTON, November 27. For several hours last night Wellington was treated to the spectacle of the biggest fire for some years. At ten o’clock great billows of flame and smoke were pouring up from the heart of the fruit and produce market, and by 10.30 p.m. practically the whole of the theatre crowds had massed themselves at points of vantage, while hundreds of people were pouring in from all parts. Even as far as Lower Hutt, people could see the conflagration, and motors rushed in from every suburb. It is said the crowd numbered 30,000 or 40,000, and thousands of others were crowded about the hills looking down at the blaze. The whole of Wellington and its environs were in the throes of heavy thunderstorms, following the hot summer days, and downpours were frequent, but the people hardly seemed to notice them, and at the fire itself they were indifferent either to rain or spray from the hoses. The police had a strenuous time keeping back people who wished to get a close up view. There was danger not merely of their hampering the firefighters in their strenuous task, but a real risk of personal injury from flying glass and blazing woodwork. From the nature of their contents, the various buildings involved provided a glut for the flames, and the whole .force of the Wellington brigade was on the scene with the exception of five men. Every possible pump was going, there being "five at once. There were sixteen leads of hose and forty-three firemen at work.

Valuable assistance was given by a party of fort3>- sailors dispatched from H.M.S. Dunedin, auxiliary firemen and members of the fire police. It was well after two o’clock before the brigade got the actual control of the flames. The debris is still smouldering, flames bursting up every little while, but there is no more serious danger. The damage is variously estimated at from £200,000 to half a million, but nothing definite is available, nor are the insurances. The premises involved in the destruction are:—

Blair Street—W. Burbidge and Co., fruit auctioneers and produce merchants. Thompson Bros., Ltd., fruit auctioneers and general merchants. Tolan Printing Company, printers. Open Warehouse Company, crockery and fancy goods importers. Coop and Neilson, tea and general merchants. G. Halstead, agent. Allen Street— Laery, Beveridge and Co., wine, spirit and tobacco merchants. Laery’s buildings (containing Campbell and Sons, carriers, Laery and Co., fruit auctioneers, produce and general merchants, Johnson and Eglin, manufacturers’ agents, Griffin, Savage and Co., manufacturers’ representatives). George Thomas and Co., merchants and fruit importers. Browne Bros, and Geddes, Ltd., wholesale manufacturing confectioners. Wakefield Street— Goldingham and Beckett, Ltd., general merchants, and Highways Transport Co., both in Victoria Buildings. Teagle, Smith and Sons, Ltd., merchants and indentors (in Burbidge’s Building). New Zealand Platers’, Ltd., electroplaters and manufacturers. Hayward Bros, and Co., Ltd., rubber and oil merchants. W. H. Dray, waterproof and clothing manufacturer. Where the fire originated cannot definitely be stated, but it is considered to have started either in Thompson and Company’s basement, where there were a lot of inflammable goods, or on the first floor, where a number of fruit cases were packed. There is nothing in the statement that the water pressure was lacking. Superintendent Creke says the supply was all right and the pressure good from the jump. At one time, when there were sixteen leads on, there was a reduction in the pressure, but nothing to worry about. The site of the fire was a block on the left-hand side of Courtenay Place approaching Clyde Quay. The fire started about the centre of the block and spread in four directions at once. There was no wind, otherwise the block as a whole must have been reduced to ashes. The size of the fire and the large crowd of spectators made accidents unavoidable, but fortunately none were of a serious nature. Mrs Plimmer, Roxburgh Street, was knocked down by a motor-car in Courtenay Place, and suffered severe shock. Ex-Brigadesman S. Jones, a lorry driver, assisting his old comrades, was wounded in the right hand and cut by falling glass. Auxiliary Fireman A. Creke, son of the brigade superintendent, was similarly injured. The fruit for to-day’s auctions went up in flames. There are plenty of roast apples, etc., however, for those who want them.