ELEVEN FIRE ENGINES

Wanganui Chronicle, Volume 83, Issue 27, 3 February 1939, Page 8

ELEVEN FIRE ENGINES

FLAMES 50 FEET HIGH DYNAMITING OF OTHER BUILDINGS AVOIDED Shortly after the alarm was given at 2.45 a.m.. 11 fire engines were on the scene and by three o’clock a crowd numbering several hundreds had gathered to witness the spectacle. When the first engine dashed into Aitken Street the Social Security Building was blazing furiously towards the northern end and. despite the efforts of the firemen, the flames raced through the wooden structure. The flames rose 50 feet into the air and as the front supports of immense hardwood pillars became detached from the beams, they fell in a blazing mass right across the street, making it impossible for the firemen to work along the frontage. A strong sou.herly breeze carried large flaming pieces of building felt over roofs hun-

dreds of feet away and there was an anxious hour till roof fires in premises to the leeward were extinguished. At one stage, residents in the path of the advancing fire were informed that if the printing office and paint manufactory near it caught alight, several wooden houses would have to be destroyed by dynamite. However, this desperate expedient was avoided. Cascades of sparks and burning embers were hurled across the street setting fire to the buildings on the opposite s’de to that of the Social Security Building. In the meantime the A.S.R.S. three-storied brick building adjoining the Social Security Building. on its eastern side, was beginning to take fire in the upper rooms and ■the firemen attacked ths fresh outbreak to prevent its destruction with the rapidly disappearing State building. Suddenness of Outbreak The most notable feature of the fire was the suddenness of the outbreak. A resident of a nearby building saw no sign of the fire at 2.40 a.m.. but at 2.45 a.m. the huge State building was a mass of flames. In no time the flames had crossed the street and ignited the buildings on the other side. All the windows in Branscombe Flats, a blocl. of nine apartments, were hurst by the intense heat from the main outbreak a chain across the road. A private residence next door was soon in flames, as was a larger block of brick flats next door to it.

The residents of Branscombe Flats had a rude awakening. One resident said he was awakened by the siren of a fire engine and it was not long after that when a police officer ran into the flats, waking those who were still asleep. It seemed only seconds before the whole buMding was enveloped. Most of the occupants of the residential buildings had to make hasty exits in their sleeping clothes and managed to rescue only a few personal belongings. Mr. H. M. Boulton, who was sleeping on the ground floor of Branscombe Flats, had an extremely lucky escape. When the policeman who roused the occupants came to Boulton’s door it was locked and the policeman, in his efforts to open it, jammed the lock. The only way Mr. Boulton could leave th? room was by climbing out of the window. As he was leaving, flames

I were leaping across the street and heavy cinders were blowing about. A lady who. with her daughter, was another occupant nf Branscombe | Flats, also had a narrow escape, the i flames coming through her window | when she made her exit. Interviewed later, she sobbed distractedly, as she sought her daughter in the crowd. ‘This is the end.” she said. ‘‘l lost everything in the Hawk'e's Bay earthquake and now this.” She and her daughter were sleeping in a room at the rear of the building and lost everything. Like a Refugee Area ! A light rain fell during JLhe period of the outbreak hut this did not api pear to have any appreciable affect land the air was thick with flying ■ sparks 100 yards or more from the ■seat of the blaze. In many convenient I doorways in Molesworth Street, piles 'of personal belongings seized in haste I by families in the danger area created i the atmosphere of a refugee area. I Bishopscourt. the residence of the . Bishop of Wellington, which was seriously threatened during the early stages of the outbreak, was saved by a change of wind. At 4.15 o’clock the j flames were sweeping across to the I building when the wind altered in its I direction and the fire started to sweep up Aitken Street. . About 3.45 o'clock the whole of the | wooden structure of the State building collapsed and it was not long after phis that, the brigadesmen began to (subdue the flames among this portion lot’ the ruins. Soon after the contractors commenced to erect the big wooden structure, an Opposition member 1 of Parliament condemned the | folly of building in inflammable material in a brick area, which is contrary to the city council bylaws. 1 The original estimate of the cost of | £60.000 was greatly exceeded by large extensions necessitated by the serious 'shortage of office accommodation for State departments in Wellington. iThis must prevail for several years as | an eight-storied Government building under construction near the Supreme Court has not reached the stage of 'completion of its steel frame.

Firefighters’ Difficulties The magnitude and great difficulty [of the firefighters’ task was emphasised by Superintendent C. A. Woolley in an interview. The brigade, he said, was called upon to deal with an outbreak that had already a strong hold on at least eight large buildings and was spreading in four directions al once. When he arrived on the scene Aiken Street was a mass of flame and impassable to brigade appliances. Men and equipment from six stations were rushed to the outbreak. The equipment included eight motor pumps, telescopic ladder and salvage van. Sixty men were fighting the fire and 5500 feet of hose were employed. The water supply was excellent and he was very proud of the way the city’s firefighting organisation came through a difficult task. The first men on the. scene, established a hydrant immediately in front of the Social Security Building but the heat became so intense that they literally had to run for their lives, their unii forms being almost burnt off their ; backs and part of the rubber-lined I hose destroyed, although filled I with water. i A milk roundsman, who was the first to give the alarm, said the bri-

gade arrived within three minutes. When he first turned into Aitken Street there was absolutely no sign of fire. Then suddenly a solid sheet of flame shot up from the ground floor of the Social Security Building like an explosion. It is believed there was no insurance on the Social Security Building but the firm of John Chambers had £2OOO on a heating plant being installed. Other insurances were those of Mrs. Button’s, brick flats, 18 Aitken Street, which were gutted, £2200; Mrs. T. B. Murray’s two-storey wooden house. 16 Aitken Street, totally destroyed, £1300; and Sir John Reed’s two-storey brick house, gutted with contents. £2500. Several companies are interested in lesser claims for fire damage in the neighbourhood, including the State Fire Office which holds the insurance of the Marine Engineers’ Institute Building which was extensively but not seriously damaged.

The Security Building The Social Security Building was to have housed not only the head office of the Security Department but the head office of the Health Department. Later it was intended that the Security Department be housed permanently in an extension of the State Fire. Building in Lambton Quay. The building had two wings of three stories and a centre section of four stories and it was expected it would be able to house some of the new tenants early this month. Including houses and business premises damaged, but not made uninhabitable by the fire, the total number of premises affected is between 30 and 140. The buildings destroyed included a two-storey wooden dwelling, 14 Aitken Street, occupied by Misses A. A. 'and M. West; the three-storey concrete building of the Amalgamated Society of Railway Servants adjoining ihe Social Security Building, extensively damaged; also the Marine Engineers' Institute, a concrete building on the other side of the street, and Branscombe Flats, 22 to 24 Aitken Street, a concrete building. Sir John Reed, the Supreme Court Judge, and Lady Reed had only time to escape in their night attire from their wooden house, 20 Aitken Street, opposite the Social Security Building. They lost practically all their personal belongings. A case Mr. Justice Reed was to hear this morning was adjourned to later in the month. I About 50 carpenters were engaged ;on the Social Security Building and |their tools lost* were valued up to £4O per set.