MISTERY FIRE

Waihi Daily Telegraph, Volume XXVI, Issue 7903, 17 September 1929, Page 2

MISTERY FIRE

WINDOW BUND IN SEODON ST. SHOP “MOST EXTRAORDINARY’’ BRIGADE WITHOUT THEORY Unusual circumstances were associated with an incipient outbreak of fire at “The Beehive,” the drapery and millinery business conducted in Seddon Street by Miss E. M. Taylor, shortly before 4 o.’clock on Sunday afternoon. That there were no serious consequences was due to its early discovery and the prompt attendance of the fire brigade. A small circle of fire near the middle of the green linen blind, on the inside of the shop window close to the pane, was observed by some passing boys, who immediately gave the alarm. With commendable promptness Superintendent Roberts and three or four other members of the brigade, who were handy, were on the scene and smashing in the glass panel of the street door they released the .Yale lock, and it was then only a matter of moments to remove the blind from the window and extinguish the glowing edges of the circle, which had then increased to about the size of a dinner plate. When discovered the burning hole in the blind was about the size of a two shilling piece.

“HAS GOT ME BEATEN” “I have never in all my experience seen a fire start in that way and I don’t think it possible for the sun to have caused it,” said the superintendent of the brigade to a "Waihi Telegraph” representative when asked for his theory. Mr Roberts went on to say: “On examining the main entrance door and those giving access to the window enclosure they were, according to the proprietress (Miss Taylor), just the same as when she locked up the premises on Saturday and there certainly was no sign of interference. It is most extraordinary, and has got me beaten.” A suggestion that a magnifying glass might have been employed in firing the blind was scouted by the brigade chief. “If such was the case,” he replied, “then in the summer time no business place on which the sun’s rays fall on the glass panes would be safe. A further theory that it might have been caused by the reflection from a mirror in the window was not considered tenable by Mr Roberts for the reason that the mirror in question was quite a small one and was hidden from the sun’s rays by the blind, which came between it and the window pane. The police, who investigated, are also at a loss to account for the fire and agree with the superintendent of the brigade that it is a mystery not likely to be solved.