CROWN SAYS SMOKE TRAPPED MOST OF THE VICTIMS OF BAILANTYNE’S FIRE

Wanganui Chronicle, 28 January 1948, Page 6

CROWN SAYS SMOKE TRAPPED MOST OF THE VICTIMS OF BAILANTYNE’S FIRE

An Inquiry In Progress

(Press Association) CHRISTCHURCH, Jan. 27 It was submitted by counsel for the Crown, to a Royal Commission of Inquiry into the fire in the premises of J. Ballantyne and Company, Ltd., in November last, when 41 people lost their lives, that smoke, blocking the exits, trapped most of those people before the fire caught them. The inquiry is the biggest of its kind in Christchurch end was

started today. Sir Harold Johnson, K.C., presided, and with him were Messrs. A. W. Croskery (president of the Federation of Labour), A. J. Dickson (Auckland City Engineer) and C. A. Woolley (Superintendent of the Wellington Fire Brigade). An imposing array of legal counsel was gathered and the public galleries filled rapidly. Thirteen Counsel Thirteen counsel have been briefed to represent various organisations and individuals concerned with the tragedy. They are Mr. G. G. C. Watson (Wellington), with him Mr. R. A. young, for the Crown; Mr. T. P. Cleary (Wellington), with him Mr. T. A. Gresson, for J. Ballantyne ' and Company; Mr. C. S. Thomas, for the underwriters; Mr. B. A. Barrer, with him Mr. A. C. Perry, for the Clothing Trades Union, the Retail Shop Assistants Union and the Clerks and Cashiers Union; Mr W. R. Lascelles, for the City Council; Mr. . G. Penlington, with him Mr. N. H. Buchanan, for the Christchurch Fire Board; Mr. A. C. Fraser (Rangiora) for Mrs. Paticia Lovell, widow of Colin Fred- i erick Lovell, who lost his life in the j fire; Mr. C. V. Lester, for Keith Owen : Smith, an employee of the firm, who will be called as a witness; and Mr. i W. H. Mathison for the Fire Brigades I Employees’ Union. Order Of Reference The principle evidence in order of reference is: (1) The cause and origin of the fire. (2) Whether all possible means were taken to warn the staff and i members of the public in the prem-, ises of the existence and seriousness ; of the fire, and whether all possible , steps were taken to provide for their i safety and escape. (3) Whether any special circumstances contributed to the rapid spread of the fire, and if there were { such circumstances whether the fire I hazard could have been reduced by j the installation of fire preventionj equipment, or by any other means. (4) Whether the structural design of the building and fire protection and egress arrangements complied with all the relevant statutes and regulations, and with all the relevant. by-laws in force in Christbhurch. j (5) The adequacy and administra- ; tion of all existing relevant statutes . and all existing relevant by-laws ih force in Christchurch in regard to! (a) fire protection and fire preven-1 tion in such buildings and (b) the i construction and design of such j buildings in relation to the safety; of the public. (6) The desirability of applying to existing buildings and present or fu- I ture statutes, regulations or by-laws providing for adequate means of egress from buildings in case of fire. 1 (7) The desirability of the occu-! piers of business premises instructing their staffs in the principles of fire prevention, evacuation drill and elementary principles of fire-fighting. (8) The effectiveness of the operations conducted and the equipment employed by the Christchurch Fire Brigade to combat the fire. (9) Whether as a result of the evi- ' dence submitted the commission has | any, and if so what, recommendations ■ to make as to the principles which j should in the public interest be ' adopted for protection against fire in existing buildings generally of type similar to Ballantyne’s building. (10) And generally upon such other matters arising thereout as may come to notice in the course of the inquiries which the commission considers should be investigated in connection therewith, and upon any matters affecting premises which they consider should be brought to the attention of the Government. Leave to cross-examine witnesses on behalf of the N.Z. Superintendents and Deputy-Superintendents’ Union was given Mr. L. Glover, and to Mr. W. H. Mathison, for the Fire Brigades Workers’ Union.

Crown Case Opens Outlining the case for the Crown, ‘ Mr. Watson said that a huge volume of evidence had been tabulated by! the police and they had endeavoured to select everything that was rele- i vant and to discard anything that' was not. They would endeavour to• give a broad outline in detail of j everything that had happened. He would suggest that any witness I whose statements had not been taken and felt they should have been should make that known. “You, sir, should observe that when a catastrophe of this nature occurs and is witnessed by many hundreds of people, emotional and other intense mental reactions make it hard to recall all their recollections affected by the ordeal they went through, said Mr. Watson. “In some detail the picture may be incomplete and even confused, but we feel that there will be enough evidence for the commission to come to clear conclusions, and we are hopeful, too. that as a result of what is placed before you, you will be able to come to conclusions about remedial steps to prevent a repetition of such a disaster in the future.” z He added that in efforts to obtain full details they had met with the full co-operation of Ballantyne’s and staff and it was hoped that there would be little conflict of the facts. They proposed to divide the case into two parts. The first part would deal with narrative and factual evidence and the second with expert evidence, with a, view to remedial measures. It is I estimated that the first part would take two weeks or longer. Mr. Watson said that plans showing the construction and layout of each floor of the buildings would be submitted and proven by experts. A detailed scale model of the building would also be produced and it would show all the internal divisions of the I buildings, stairways, offices and means of egress. He had arranged that neither counsel nor witness would handle it, but he had arranged for an expert who would demonstrate it as the hearing proceeded. After the model had been shown to the commission, Mr. Watson said that a considerable number of photographs were available. A film taken by the National Film Unit of the fire in progress had been sent to Christchurch, and though he had been in-

I formed that it was not very. useful, a screening would be arranged. In dealing with the factual evidence, it would be necessary to call as witnesses such people as Messrs. Ballantyne and firemen, and at that stage they would oe restricted to see their actions during the fire, but later they would be called again to give further evidence on any other matters if the commission approved this course. Many Alterations “The buildings which comprise this block have been either bought or built at different times," said Mr. Watson. "As a result of that acquisition of different buildings they have found it expedient at times to make all sorts of alterations and making numerous openings between against a spread of fire and smoke, buildings.” Many were very large and were left entirely unprotected According to our information, some of these have been made without obtaining a permit. Evidence will be given of the importance of these openings from the point of view of the spread of combustion, and it will be a matter for the commission to determine how far they contributed to the spread. It will be suggested by us that if the fire could not have been confined, at least smoke could have to permit a complete evacua- ’ tion of the building. i Discussing the buildings, Mr. Wat--1 son said that it was in the basement lof the building known as Congreve’s that the fire originated. There were two entrances to it; one was a stairway and the other was an opening from the other basement and at the time it was closed only by two cyclone wire gates, which were padlocked. There were no fire escapes or lifts in this building, but one side was a right-of-way along the south-I ern side from Colombo Street to the ; rear. There was no entrance to the ground floor from Colombo Street, I he continued, but it appeared that I i there had originally been an en- i , trance. The next building was a larger one and usually referred to as Goodwin’s Building. This was a four-storey building with a basement and was built by Ballantyne’s in 1904. It was separated from Congreve’s building by a brick wall. It was match-lined except for some pinex on the ground floor. Between the basements there was a cyclone gate opening in the basements. On the ground floor there was an opening 12ft. by 10ft. joining two sections of the furnishing department. On the first floor was an opening 10ft. 6in. by 17ft., a very large opening, and before the fire it had been temporarily blocked with pinex. On the second floor there was an opening 7ft. by 3ft„ with no fire protection at all. Those were the openings on the south wall of Goodwin’s Building. In<! the cellar on the north side of Goodwin S Building employees of a flrm i of contractors were working at cutting an opening. ' I On the northern side of the ground floor of Goodwin’s Building there was no opening to the north, but on I the first floor was another large opening 9ft. by 17ft., cut to give commumcation between this building and the one to the north. This opening I was also unprotected. At the second I floor level there was an opening giv-I ing access to a fire escape and | covered with a fire-resisting door i There was a similar door on the third i A 1 ‘I 1 ? outside of the north wall of Goodwin’s Building was a fire i escape reaching from the top to the bottom. Access could be gained to I A ttle fire doors in Goodwin’s I Building. There were timber stairways con- 1 necting the various floors. There was i ! a lift from the basement to the third 1 ? oo . r / bu J ,n P ractlce it did not travel i ■to the basement. The lift well had | a timber frame and was only par-I I tially closed between the variousi , floors, and what enclosure there was material ma^e an Y fire-resisting Smoke Blocked Exits Every person who unfortunately lost his or her life in the tragedy did so as the result of the means of egress in the buildings being blocked by smoke, not by fire, was submitted as the Crown’s view to the commission by Mr. Watson, discussing the 1 spread of smoke and the effect of it I on evacuation, or failure to evacuate members of the staff. Our view is that the spread of the smoke and accumulations through these various openings was the immediate cause of this terrible loss of life, because smoke made what were otherwise modes of egress impassable,” said Mr. Watson. In the Crown's view there appeared to be three main courses taken by smoke, resulting in great massed smoke in particular areas. Smoke originally emanated from the basement before the fire took place, First the smoke took the course of following the stairway and cellar door close to the approval office. Second, it could flow up round the casing of the electrical supply, which would enable it to pass the ground floor and discharge its burden into the factory on the first floor. Thirdly, it could disperse laterally through the cyclone wire gateway into the adjacent basement. There was no doubt that smoke took all three courses. The Crown’s view was that smoke which went through the gateway into the cellar in Goodman’s building must have found its way into the open lift well, which was really a gigantic flue. Some of the smoke was no doubt discharged at each floor above the lift enclosure, but probably the greater part rose to the top of the lift well. The top of the well was entirely open and when the smoke reached the top it discharged, as it would, from the top of the huge chimney. “According to evidence the ac- j cumulation of smoke in the passages i the egress from the accountancy and 1 credit department appears to have! been slightly later in time than other aggregations," he continued.

"Whether we are correct or not in tracing the course of the third volume it is an inescapable fact that a large volume of smoke did reach the passageway, the only effective egress from the department. Just as the second body of smoke cost the lives of those in the millinery section, it was the third body of smoke which cost the loss of lives in the credit room. They were cut off by masses of smoke considerably before the actual flames reached those areas."

I Smoke Turns To Fire “Apparently the first stage in the development of the fire was the concentration of smoke in the first floor—not the ground floor—of Congreve’s building, the floor being used as a workshop. Apparently once the smoke reached it the smoke could not immediately get away, because the opening into the furnishing showroQm was temporarily blocked with a sheet of pinex, but when the fire in that locality passed from smoke into flames, the pinex covering became totally ineffective and in a few moments the fire had swept through to tear, with tremendous rapidity, through to the next opening and to . the next area,” said Mr. Watson. “So rapid, was the progre?w of the flames that two members of the men's tailoring department were literally J chased by flames across the floor of • their department, and had to take : another means of escape through [ windows into Cashel Street. The fire j spread with astonishing rapidity j through that portion of the premises.l If that is so, the commission may draw the conclusion that the exist- ; ence of these four other openings! without fire protection was the im-i mediate cause of the rapidity and extent of the rush of flames. “The only fire escape in the three buildinigs occupied by Ballantyne’s was one leading from i the millinery workroom to ' Colombo Street on the north wall | of Goodman’s building,” said Mr. i Watson. “One fact clearly established was that no person, either went down or up the escape during the conflagration. The reason for that was the congregation of smoke in and along the fire escape. It is perfectly plain : from photographs taken at the fire that a huge billowing mass of smoke i swept, at ground level, along the : street frontage from Congreve’s buildings, across the front of Good-! i man’s building and Pratt’s building, and by reason of the alley way being i unprotected, into the alleyway itself. . i “Such apertures should be en- | I closed against an influx of smoke 1 I from outside,” continued Mr. i 1 Watson. “Apart from that fire ' 1 j _. escape there was no other fire < i i escape in the buildings destroyed. | 1 i There were no fire escapes along ( e 1 the front of the building, and , 1 l there were no vertical ladders in . ( I front of the buildings.” j An undeniable fact was that there ; s was no co-ordinated and centrally • t directed method, adopted to evacu- | i ate Ballantyne’s premises, because of I i the general lack of appreciation of . i all concerned, the management, staff I « and fire brigade, of the potential 1 dangers of the disaster, said Mr. s Watson. I c “Neither the fire brigade nor e the management of Ballantyne’s s —and I don’t iyant any inference j to be drawn from the order in which I mention these two—appear to have taken at any stage any centrally directed and properly co-ordinated steps for the evacuation of the staff,” he said. ' The premises were not equipped * with any system of alarm bells, and since the end of the war and I the abandonment of E.P.S. prac- J tices there had been no organ- 1 ised evacuation or fire drills prior I to the fire. Of course, there had 5 been a huge change in the per- 1 I sonnet of the staff since the war practices. Heads Act Well ’ i i “The heads of the Individual deI partments in many cases acted with ; I commendable promptitude in taking ] steps to get their own particular ( i group of employees out of the build- , | ing. They acted on their own Initi- ;, , ative, but they were concerned only i with their own particular group. It 1 i is informative for the purposes of | ' the inquiry to consider how the dif- ! I ferent people in authority reacted . 1 differently in the same circumstances. The contrasts are rather , strange. “In Congreve’s building were the dressmaking and frock workrooms. Miss Hardy and Miss Jenkin had been at a conference. Returning to their rooms, they both saw smoke and took effective steps to insist on their girls getting to safety. Fourteen girls were working in the mantle workroom on the second floor of . Goodman’s building on the Colombo ' Street frontage,” said Mr. Watson. I I “Miss Draper noticed considerable 1 | smoke in the furnishing department ; as she went up. She looked out of , the windows and saw people congre- ; | gating and immediately ordered her girls off the premises and succeeded ’ in getting them out. “The millinery workroom was on the third floor, of Goodman's building. Mrs. Crew was in charge. About 1 3.40. when she went near the lift and 1 saw smoke In the passage ways she i at once warned the girls in the dis- 1 play studio next door of their dan- ; i ger and went back into her work- 1 room, in which there was no smoke. 't She told the girls they must go out j i and go down the fire escape. , j I I i Advice Not Taken ! < II "Apparently they did not take , ( that seriously and continued to look ' , out of the windows Into Colombo , Street. Mrs. Crew spoke sharply and • told them to follow her. They did , into the next room In the centre of ! ; the building. On opening the next , door she found thick yellow smoke, 1 i and it was too dark for her to see who 1 was behind her. She knew one girl 1 was following her and she assumed ’ the others were following. She t followed the wall for 10 or 15 feet ' and went out on to the fire escape. I She found that the top of the fire t escape appeared ’o be clear after 1 the first few steps. She then found ; j only one girl had followed her. At 11 ’hat time, apparently early, Mrs. j c Crew and the girl went to the ground 1 a

floor and told Mr. Ken Ballantyne the position, that her girls were trapped. She did her utmost, and although she and the girl had a very trying time, they got through it. The other girls did not follow her and were trapped in that area. “When Mr. Ken Ballantyne got the message from Mrs. Crew he obviously appreciated that these girls were in grave personal danger. He went upstairs to see what could be done. He went though the accountancy and credit rooms. He found work had been stopped and the ledgers were being carefully put away. Mr. Ballantyne went to the door leading to the fire escape and opened it. At once he encountered heavy and utterly impenetrable smoke and had to close the door. He then told the staff in the accountancy and credit department to get out, but the credit room girls came hurrying back to say they could not get through the passage to the stairs as access was blocked by smoke. Because it was obvious to Mr. Ballantyne that he, they and everybody in those rooms were cut off from escape, and the only hope of safety could be through the windows, Mr. Ballantyne went to the windows and tried to attract the attention of people in the street below in the hope that ladders would be got up to rescue them. Suddenly the room became pitch black and Mr. Ballantyne remembers a feeling of suffocation and immediately making his way to the Colombo Street windows, but he has only a vague recollection of what happened afterwards and of his rescue."

How the telephone exchange operator, Miss Hamilton, was probably affected by the smoke long before the girls in the millinery department, was then described by Mr. Watson. “We know she was still on duty, for Mr. Dawson tapped 'phones downstairs to attract her attention and tell her there was a fire and to summon the brigade and tell the bosses,” said Mr. Watson. "We know she did ring through to the inquiry desk to convey the information to Mr. Kenneth Ballantyne. Mrs. Glover got the message at the counter and says she took it about 3.30 p.m., as far as she remembers, although it was probably nearer 3.35 p.m. We know Mr. Kenneth Ballantyne rushed to try to find the fire and see the extent of it. He came back five minutes after getting the message and tried to communicate with the operator by dialling the number. The line was then found to be dead, indicating the operator was no longer > attending to it." Mr. Watson said evidence would show that at approximately 3.40 p.m. the girl who was to relieve Miss Hamilton while she went to afternoon tea rang through to say she was coming up. Miss Hamilton told her smoke appeared to be coming up, and, to use her own words, she was “just about smoked out." Miss Hamilton was brought to the credit room by Gilchrist and was obviously dazed and affected by the smoke. She was last seen in the credit room with other people who lost their lives.

Heroism Of Civilians

The heroism of two civilians, Paul Molineaux, a law clerk, and Alfred Williamson, printer, who put a carpenter’s ladder on the verandah of the building and saved two women, Miss Kennedy and Mrs. Nash, was praised by Mr. Watson when he reviewed the attempts to rescue trapped members of the staff. “The highest commendation Is due to them both for their activities then and later during the fire,” said Mr. Watson. “It was due solely to their activities that these two girls’ lives were saved.” Mr. Watson said three rescues, Miss Kennedy, Mrs. Nash and Mr. Ken Ballantyne, were made from the Colombo Street frontage. An unsuccessful attempt was made to rescue girls trapped in the millinery room. These girls were seen with handkerchiefs tied round their faces and were heard calling for help. Some firemen had their attention drawn to the girls and a hand-operated extension ladder was placed against the verandah premises, but it was obvious the ladder was far too short to reach up to the windows where the girls were trapped. Some firemen ascended the ladder, hauled it on to the verandah, and great difficultly was experienced in finding a suitable base, and a fireman lay down and held the base of the ladder. “By this time is was just after 4 p.m. and the whole of the premises were engulfed in flame,” continued Mr. Watson. Vain Rescue Attempts “A fireman climbed the ladder as far as he could, but was forced back by the intense heat. Another made a further attempt. He actually got to the top, but flames burst out b©’ neath him and at his own level. The ladder was still short of the windows and that was the end of an unavoidably tragic attempt to rescue these girls from outside the building.” Mr. Watson said Miss Kennedy and Mrs, Nash were employees In the credit and accountancy departments. When they found they could not get out by the fire escape of the passageway because of smoke, they decided to force their way to the windows. They were seen at a window of the credit room two or three minutes after the tragic failure to rescue ’ ie millinery room girls. Among those who saw them were two civilians, the law clerk, Paul Molineaux. and the printer, Alfred Williamson. An ordinary carpenter’s ladder earlier had been brought from a chemist's shop and was used in Cashel Street to enable people to get from the verandah to the street level. When the civilians realised the danger to the girls they got the ladder and used it to get up to the verandah. Mr. Molineaux got there first and just behind was Mr. Williamson.

.Landing Blanket

; They saw where the girls were siti ting and realised they had only one I hope—to jump. Mr. Molineaux ap- . parently called out urging them to take the risk of jumping and saying : he and his mate would endeavour to ; break their fall. The fire brigade ' and civilians had rigged up a landing blanket in the street below. The first to jump was Miss Kennedy. She was picked up by Mr. Molyneaux and Mr. Williamson and lowered, or thrown, into the blanket. Mrs Nash jumped next and was picked up by the two men and thrown over the verandah into the blanket. Only two or three minutes after those girls had been rescued a figure appeared in a window of the credit room. It was enveloped in smoke but was seen to be a man sitting on the window ledge. Here again the hand-operated ladder was placed against the verandah and again was found to be too I short to r each Mr. Ken Ballantye. I Firemen climbed to the verandah and | hauled the ladder up. By that time i flames were bursting out in all direc- ! tions, and water had to be played on 'Mr. Ballantyne and the firemen. Mr. ; Ballantyne was assisted down the I ladder on to the verandah and thrown ; into the landing blanket. The commission adjourned to 10 ;a.m. tomorrow, when Mr Watson ■ will review operations at the fire.