SENSATIONAL FIRE

Waipukurau Press, Volume XXVIII, Issue 119, 14 May 1932, Page 2

SENSATIONAL FIRE

TWELVE MEN’S PLIGHT IN WELLINGTON FIRE (Per Frees Association) WELLINGTON, Friday. A fire which swept through the greater portion of the Returned Soldiers’ Club, a wooden building at the corner Of Featherstone and Brandon Streets, this evening provided a spectacular sight for about an hour and caused considerable damage to each of the three floors. About a dozen men were playing billiards in the saloon on the top floor found the stairway a mass of smoke and flames when they attempted to make the staircase and it was only the lucky finding of some rope under a couch that enabled them to get away from, the blazing building in time. It is thought that the fire originated from an electric transformer station which is situated next door on the northern side of the building. At afiy rate it started on the ground floor near the bottom of the Brandon Street stairway and with amazing rapidity went up to the top floor. The Central Fire Station received

the alarm at 6.23 o’oclock, and by

the time the brigade reached the

building the fire had a. very strong hold.

Stairway Aflame

About a dozen men who were playing billiards on the top floor first smelt the smoke about 6.15 o’clock. They attempted to make their exit by means of the stairway in the south-eastern corner, but found this impossible because of the dense volume of smoke and flame coming up from below.

There were, no fire escapes, and to jump to the pavement below would mean certain death. Then, one of them, a seaman, remembered that there was a rope under one of the couches. Two long pieces of rope were secured to a billiard table’s legs and were dropped out of the windows, one in Brandbn Street and one in Featherstone Street. About half of the men first went down into Brandon Street, and ...when it was found that the flames shooting angrily from the windows below were burning them as they descended, the remainder, with the exception of two, made a successful escape by means of the rope suspended on to Featherstone Street. Rescued By Ladder One of the two men left on the

top floor was the caretaker of the building who, on account of his age, would have found it very difficult to have gone down the rope. The flames were gaining ground rapidly. Just at this time the brigade arrived. An electric escape ladder was brought into operation, and in a very few seconds the extensions had run up to where the entrapped men were, 60 odd feet above the pavement. The brigade now had a stiff task before it. The fire had gained an exceptionally strong hold and a gusty wind was fanning the, flames dangerously. In about an hour the fire was well under control.

The principal premises damaged by fire and water were: The club rooms of the Returned Soldiets’ Association, the offices of H. E. Leighton and Co., land agents, the Blue Cab Company, Empson, tailor, and the South African War Veterans’ rooms.