Levin And Coy.’s Wool Store At Kaiwarra Destroyed By Fire

Wanganui Chronicle, 1 November 1948, Page 5

Levin And Coy.’s Wool Store At Kaiwarra Destroyed By Fire

Wellington's Most Spectacular Blaze Since Rongotai

"WELLINGTON, Last Night (PAL—In Wellington’s most spectacular fire since that at Rongotai Exhibition Buildings, about two years ago, Levin and Company’s three-storey wool store, fronting the Hutt Road at Kaiwarra, was totally destroyed late on Saturday night and early this morning.

The managing-director of the I company, Mr. John D. G. Duncan, said today that there were' about 2500 bales of wool in the i store, which would be covered by | insurances to a total of about' £lOO,OOO. The building, he added, ! was insured for between £50,000 and £60,000. Occurring just as the crowds were leaving the theatres in the city and the speedway in the Hutt Valley, the spectacle caused the greatest traffic jam in the city's history, and the roads north and south of Kaiwarra were blocked for distances up to two miles, with vehicles four and live abreast jumbled together. The iirst warning of the fire was given when an automatic alarm from the store registered the fire in the office on the ground floor of the store at 10.8 p.m. A fire engine from Thorson station arrived at the store about four minutes later. No sign of a tire could be seen from the road, and when the office was opened with a key held by the fire brigade only a smell of smoke warned that there was a fire somewhere in the building. Proceeding into Westminster Street, a blind street running on the northern side of the store to the railway, Fourth Officer A. Milne, who was in charge, noticed wisps of smoke and broke his way through a small door, to be confronted with a wall of lire coming at him down the staircase. He immediately sent by radio an appeal to headquarters for mere assistance. This was sent, and a few moments later Chief Officer Superintendent C. A. Wooley ordered the brigade alarm, which took a total of 12 appliances and two service trucks to the scene with 70 men. Superintendent Woolley himself took charge.

Within 20 .ninutes of the alarm th? roof collapsed and the north-east corner of the building fell out. By then the flames were reaching up to 100 ft. above the building, more especially toward its rear beside the railway line. Soon after 11 p.m. the back wall fell outward, burying the lines of rails in masonry and flaming wool bales. With a maze of hoses, which the Inspector of Fire Brigades described as the most he had ever seen used for a lire, with engines drawing water from the Kaiwarra Stream and from the city mains, many streams of water were poured into the building from all sides, including one jet from inside Cable's foundry, ihe next building to the south. This jet was directed through breaches in the top of the store’s southern wall.

By 2.30 a.m. the Initial fierceness of the blaze was reduced and it was possible for firemen in batches to be sent away for a rest and a meal.'They were still at work, however, when daylight came, for sections of the fire, especially a stack of wool in the centre of the building, were still burning steadily. By 10 a.m. there was little left burning, though smoke from smouldering embers and wool shrouded the fantastically twisted network of the building’s inner framework. Levin’s building can be considered i almost a total loss. Wm. Cable and Company’s workshop suffered little damage. When the southern wall of the wool store fell out it damaged one pier of the Kaiwarra railway station, carrying away its concrete edging. Two sets of rails between the building and the pier were pushed out. of position by tons of masonry and wool under which they were buriedRED CROSS ON THE JOB Red Cross men and women worked right through the night to keep the firemen supplied with tea and biscuits. First-aid posts were established ana minor casualties treated. There were no serious injuries. One of five stores in Kaiwarra belonging to Levin and Co., the store destroyed was erected about 1913. It was of three storeys in brick with a steel frame. The fire alarm system, connected with Thorndon and the central fire stations, ran throughout the building. Apart from a small section, which was occupied by the Shaw, Savill and Albion Shipping Co. as a wool shipping office, it was used by Levin and Co. The cause of the fire has not been ascertained. Superintendent Woolley said tonight: "The fire developed in an inexplicable manner, and I am making further inquiries.” Plain clothes police were noticed todav removing samples of charted woodwork and other debris, which were carried away by a motor-car. A storeman, Mr. T. V. Costello, said he left a dance haill at Kaiwarra, which is on the hill facing the wool store, about 1015 p.m. He heard the automatic fire alarm ringing and immediatelv recognised it as the wool stores. :He could not see any trace of fire. Then he heard Ihe fire engines coming and went down to let them into the store. There was still no sign of the fire on the road level. A few minutes later long tongues of flame burst through the roof. “I was the last 1o leave the building,” said Mr. Costello. "I put about 12 railway trucks of wool in the store on Saturday mornnig. I locked the store about 10.10 a.m.” About 60 men were employed in the store and 12 in the office.