DESTEUCTIVE FIRE IN AUCKLAND.

Waikato Times, Volume II, Issue 88, 21 November 1872, Page 2

DESTEUCTIVE FIRE IN AUCKLAND.

(From the D. S. Cnoss.) | TiiK long immunity from any serious lire in Auckland served, to nmke the alarm loudly rung out by the >'ew Zealand Insurance Company's bell at midnight last night even more startling and ominous than-was ususl when it was customary for citizens to be awakened weekly from their slumber by the wild alarm of the fire-bells. Stragglers along the street in tawu altered their course from the direction of th«ir homes and hurried towards Lower Queen-street, in which locality the fire soomed loAits. A dense smoke came drifting came drifting up the street, indicating that the' firo had already taken a firm hofiiofthe building; in-which-it had-originated, and sorvod to direct persons to. the actual scene of tho occurrence, wliich was in Fort-strobt'. It appears that about hiilf-paat 11 o'clock at nigjit smoke was observed issuing from the lower portion of the-brick store occupied, by Mr Franz iSoberff, next Messra E. &H, lesac.'a store. The reflection of a fire burnings brightly within, was also shown upon the fanlight Wer the door. The person who , observed Hiis immediately, gave the ftlarin. by crying " ifire," and i'Juteqtires Ternahun, Jeflrey, uud other officers of the police forco wuru' quickly on the spot. Intimation was at once given to the keeper ut the Hevr Zealand Tnsurailico Comjjany's building, and au alarm was rung'from , the ball in-the Lower there. At this stage those assembled in. Fort street appeared at a loss how, to acfc,.until the fire : e.ngines arrived. A very foolish thing was doup by. a- by-ataiider, who rushed up uud smashed iu one of the windows of Mr ScherlT'a store. The lire, although evidently burning fiercely insidje, was to a great extent stifled, by its own smoke, but the current, of itir thus let in upon- it funned tho iluines nnd showed the true extent of the hold.already taken.upou the building. It was evident, from the l'ufct thiit sinok'c issued frbm the roof along the'whole'length of the Block of buildings, that the fire must' have bfeeij'. buriiing a.cousiderablc time before it was discovered, llaving noticed the situation ut tho discovery of the, lire, we will now proeeedito describe itrfprogre s. I Pending the sirrival of the engines it was impossible to do anything towards extinguishing the fire, which was now making rapid., progress, in', the inside'of the buildings, and about VJ. o'clock tho'. tiainos burst tjhrough tlio roof at the back next of Mr Sclierlf's. store.. A; free Vent having been found, tile work of destruction proceeded liiore rapidly. Fiery, tonguesllicked along the slated' roof,.melting tho lead and loosaning the slates, which came crashing into the street, to the - danger of spectators, , who quickly inoved into safer quarters. Hitherto, the fire, being uhallected by the wind, had been working eastward along the interior of the roof of the block where it originated, but the flames were now blown directly upon Messrs Isaac's stoi'e, and tW heitt along the wall of their building became intense, while tho flames obtained a. hold upon portjoue of tho windows. At ten minutes past 12 o'clock —or. half an.hour after tho first alarm of the fire-bolls —the Auckland Fircs,Brigado, under Mr Inspector Matthews, came up, with tho' iK-orthern engine. No time was - lost,\the hose was in a workmanlike manner, and in less than two, minutes, a, good jet of water was being thrown through ths window of Mr Seherff's store. Mr Superintendent Ashftr came on the ground ahout this time, but his Volunteer Firaßrigade did not arrive till ten minutes later. Howcvcc, they also quickly got to work and did good service. W.c would here point out the necessity for gotting lire guards, similar to .those'used in America, for the protection of ouv" firemen' at wort. The heat was so intense last night that it was impossible' to approach nearer the burning than the centre of the road, while,, if a fire protection on wheel* hail! been' obtainable, with a protection board at the head, to save ■ the firemen from 1 ffi i lrin l g material, and holes through which the hose could bo inserted, the firemen might, have approached within a few feet of the buildings, and could have directed the, jet with nm-ch more force andt effect. As it was, .the water fell considerably sh'ort of where it should have reached in,o'rder to ha-vo had tho greatest possible effect in extinguishing the flamvs. Shortly after the brigades commenced to'play the police'assisted by civilians began to remove ! goods from Mr Buteholz's store,.but w.cre only able to save a small quantity, which was protected by a few members of the Volunteer force... The Brigade's soon had three jets playing upon the fiames, but the fire had taken such a hold that the destruction, of the whole of the eastern block was plainly inevitable. Soon after they commenced to play, however, the wind slightly changed to the south, thereby endangering the on) the opposite eideof tho street, and the building adjoining, occupied by Air S. Cochrano and others. Notwithstanding the change in the wind, Messrs Isaac's Store seemed doomed, although it had so far stoutly resisted the flames j.and the store of Messrs Meyers and Co, Queen-street, was also' in danger. At about 20 minutes, past' 12 o'clock, the back of Messrs Meyere-store and the roof of Isaace'is store were, burning j the flames were extending across the street and almost touching the roof of the Postofltec, and the buildings iu the roar of the stores in Queenstreet and behind the burning mass were, rapidly catching. The exertions of every one wore directed in attempting to extinguish the llames,. and in doing what little wa3 possible in the way of removing goods. About this time a most unseemly squabble arose beiween Mr Matthews and Mr Asher,,thc superintendents of the rival Fire. Brigades.. Orderj) were giv.eDi tij one and countermanded by the other, the crowd cheering and jeering ;tli the. bandying) of words that ciVsued. His Worship the Mayor and. the police endeavoured to reconcile the contending brigades, and succeeded to' Some extent; but the hostility broke out anew at every change of position. It is quite evident that this divided authority will not do, and steps must be taken to determine who is to have controul of the city engines, and to place the brigades on a proper footing. The men appeared up to their work, but were interrupted by the disagreements of tboir ofliecra.

At half-past 12 the cry was raised that the Customhouse had caught fire. This proved unfortunately too true. The place first showing any indication of fire was the western corner, but this was quickly extended eastwaad. •- and.to Cochrjine's buildings. Several ineffectual ntfempts were- made to fit into the tops of each other by joints or other means as they shouldjhavftbeen. The firemen seemed to be paralysed by the. magnitude of the disaster: The branches would not throw water the requisite height, and difficulties seemed to increase as timo advanced. While these things were going on at the south side of Foffc street, the flames were making..sad. havpc on the north side. The whole range of brick buildings between Messrs 33. and H. Isaacs's stores and the lane, running along the side of Mr J. Craig's coal yard was in,one solid ilaine. The eastern end of Messrs Isaacs's store showed symptoms of getting dn fire. The gable wall was almost red hot, and the rafters inside were evidently beeomirig seriously affected by the excessive heat. The largo building began rapidly to sueeiunb to the flames. By this time it was seen that persona were inside Messrs H,. S. Meyers and Co.'s store. They drove out the windows that were burning, and took other precautions to prevent tlia fire spreading within. Shortly after this a portion of the gable end of. Mr Bncholz store fell outwards with a crash. Fortunately the polieo had anticipated this event for some time* arid prevented people gathering in the lane. Had this, .not been done an awful sacrifice of life would probably hara occurred. By 0.45 a.m. the lire on the roof of the telegraph ofßce had extended eastward nearly the whole length of the bnildiug. .Attempts were made to get the hose taken up stairs, but the effort seomed to bo comparatively tiseless. A species of .paralysis appeared to have seized .hold of all concerned, aiifd the feeble squirting of water was of no avail whatever. The fire at the ert&'of Messrs Isaacs's store had apparently got a firm hold, but made comparatively little progress, no doubt owing to the substantial character of the wall. The spirits in, Messrs Buchplz and Co.'s premises now caught fire, and.flames of the fiercest description ascended in the midnight sky. The,- litiagry tongues seemed to lick- the very,, ait dry, and otx> folfc. as ■ if parched even at a considerable distance from the building. Several explosions,.. of spirit casks occurred, and cauoed the crowd to givo the building a wide berth. The.- front wall began to show signs of bulging out, and many warnings were shouted by the spectators to the firemen to be on-thW guard. Jiow it was seen-that the firemen had obtained a mbst advantageous position to eommand thet fire on the roof of the Customhouse and Telegraph Office, for large volumes of water began to ruu over the -roo£ towards Fort-street. For a time it seemed as if they were to succeed in quenching the-fire in this splendid and cosily building, .tvhieh, extends in a solid block, from Fort-street to Shortland-street. The hopes of the people rose,, but. in a few minutes they were, doomed to disappointment; for at several othei* places-,, all along the roof, the signs of fire began to manifest themselves. The flames from Bucholz'fi store were lapping themselves across the street-on to the rt>Of<offthe Custom-Jiouse building, and the slates began to .yield under file intense heat—splintering in all directions. It soon became very evident that the whole of,, the Custom-house and-Bost-offiee building, in which were all tile Provincial Government offices, were doomed. The-, speotators. wished to render aid, but were helpless. A cry was raised that Messrs Must and Co's stores were also on fire, and for gome time it was diffiult to say such was not the ca«e, owing to the very vivid reflection cast upon the back windows. .Tfc.ttirned out, fortunately, not to be the case at the time, btifc the danger,to tr.hichutbey. were exposed could not be concealed, owing to the rapid manner in which the fire .vwis extending in-the Government buildings. A 6mall firerengina was ruft along to nearly opposite the end of Commerce-street, whan it began to throw-tome-water on to the, roof, with Tery. little eflfcet, .Ift a-ehijrt time it appeared that the whole roof of the Government buildings from Fort-street to Shortland-street was on fire. There. *m now no help whatsoever for the building. The Bank of Australasia, adjoining the ; Poat-offiee was considerable danger, for the flames had taken possession .of the floor occupied by the Superintendent, and but very little of theix, contents were apparently, removed. The. Waste Lands Office, with, all the official records of surveys and the plans of the alienated land in the province were there also, and to all appearance doomed. At this time Mr J. Sheeban orginised?a : number of tiie Hc-bson Company of Volunteers, who together \ritb. several members of the Engineer corps,, entered the Prdviiicial Government buildings and succeeded in rescuing nearly the whole of the

most irom ' the Waste Lands Qtli'm- cokwyivi'to.'th.*policeguardroom, Chancery strNtf,-. Jar «>&• ouifolyV- The telegraphic instruments ilk#W flb*eifice* as iort street before tlu> flaines tindi re*>lW«tf eible, and hnmcdiatelv frontdoor and carried a aS.po»ftiolb,.| bub it was of little u«s ntidlltetfrtHttP fc> 'J* l*^^. quarter where it would betnftMfdftMlW*:- Itorfltat*m»fliß; buildin-' where the'fire originated -Hbw slightly. the efforts to save the contents of as ret had not caught were renewed with- gWatUr-" oxortaon,. and nearly all the papers and' a largo quantity f>£- the goods' were safely removed, although fortunately the building throughout withstood the flames. In" , the , meantime MieeUbrts of the Fireßrigaaoto subdue the flames that were consuming thq , Post-office continued without' success, and'it was evident that all that could bo dono was done to eavo the adjoining buildings, which everv moment seemed in. greater danger. The occupiers of all tho shops aad building* m Queen street between Short-land and Fort streets had, with assistance, succeeded- ii>- removing their goods, and things were, beiug reinovod from the offices between the Post-office anuTthe'coTner. At/this stage the scene-was one only witnessed on rare occasions. It was impossible to say where the fire would end.- People were rushing.out of the different house* in danger, with articles of furniture of-every descrip-tion:-cab* and 'buses Wore being driven'furiously among the spectators- loaded with the goods removed" frtttn tileProvincial oflfces and the adjoining., buildings-; fimnon were behaving only as men conduct themselves under the influence of ' great excitement , ' and when danger is thoroughlv disregarded, and there was ff fear prevalent that squares' of buildings had yet to be burnt. Cm the top-of the buildings opposite the 'Post OIIL-e meh were engaged in laying "vet blaakets, and delugiug- the' roofs with water, while so far away as Vulcan Laue, people were hurriedly amoving furniture and goods. 1h Fort, street; nearly all the buildings which tho flames hud uotk mastered were emptied of tieir contents. While , tho fears of the people were at the lrghest, ami -when all. exertious- to stay the progress of the fire sei-nwd useless,- tfioV wind, which up to this time had been blowing steadily feom the north east lull'jd, and gradually tho force of the flames lessened, and hopes were entertained that t-hoy would subside without further destruction. At this stage a number of cabs were engaged in removing from tho Bank of Australasia the bullion aiicT other valuable contents, as.alxo the mails from the Post Office, Money Order and" Post Oilkc Savings Bank, records and papers from tho tho Snperintenlent's office: which were conveyed to the police office. Owing to the-direction of the firemen, the large buildingudjoining the Post Office, occupied by Must und Co, and McArthur, Shera, nad Coj, escaped, although at one' timeits destruction appeared inevitable. The culminating point was when the wooden portions of the-'roof of the Government buildings which were' standing, formed' the feature of the co-iuagration fell in cloud of spark's ascending which filled tbi air, and rendered the scene a most magnificent one. About two. o'clock- the of the Post-ofliee arid Superintendent's office began to give way, and the showers of sparks that rose with tho fresh bree^C placed tho roofs of Mr Peacock's shop and City Club in considerable danger. But a lar<;e number" of willing , haWds on the roof with ample supply of'blankets soon put all danger from this source at an end. After a time the' floor of the Provincial Treasury gave way, and the two large , safes came tumbling down on the Post-office piazza' amid the shouts of the' spectators. They were apparently uninsured 1 . The Bank of Australasia, which was in considerable danger, was saved- by a number of firemen who assembled on the roof and kept a constant sfr.eii!ui of water running over it. At an early period of tho iiro the J hose from Meesrs Fiitli's mill was blid, and rendered good service. The chief wo--k to which it was directed was tho Bavin" of IJob'son'.s Bt f dings, occupied by Messrs Must nlnd 00.. and 1 Messrs McArthur, Slvera & Co. After the safety of these buildings was secured it was directed against other portions of the burning mass. Tfhc whole of the gable of Messrs Bucnofe's store 1 fell irr, rtnd also shortly after two o'clock the greater portion of the front wall. Several na'rrow escapes from death or severe accident was made, but so far is we were able to learn , in the bustle incident upon the occasion, no casualty of a serious nature'occurred. A narrow escape from accident occurred when the office of Mr Rose, one of the Government officers connected with the Customs department* was entered. A large quantity of valuable documents, &<£., hatf.juet' hffefc removed,, and the person who was inside collecting them had just gotovuft and- on to the street when the roof of the office fell in with a crash. The followingis the list of buildings destroyed and injured by the fire, with the' insurances on them, so far as we were able to ascertain at that treasonable hour of the morning :— Custom-house, Post-office, Telegraph-office, and Provincial Government, offices walls only left standing. . Bdieved to bo covered The Cost of this building,, when built, was about £23,000. Budiolz ftnd rv Cw,'s fcond n«d free stores, wholly destroyed. The building is owned by Mr Webb, who is absent in Eng' land, and tlfo' whole block is believed to be insured. Mα- ' cha-ndise in Mr Bucholz's stares is insured for £3,000 in the' Eoyal tnsusawe Compancy ; «lso sakl to be insurod for £2,500 in the Northern, and £3,000 imthe Pacific Companies. Messrs E.;md H. Isaacs had-ia Bwholz's bond goods valued at £700 uninsured. . ... . . . Three 3twes oeeupied by Mr ScJierff. and owned by Mr Webb, containing 25 tons of fi-ax and a quantity of guin. Building- and e&ntants wholly destroyed. The building is believed to be insured with the rest of the block. Mr Scherff s goods- were covered by a policy in the New Zealand Insurance Company's Office, for £2000. Messrs E. & H. Isaacsr's steo- in)wred, Building owned by Mr Graham ; insured in the Norwich Union for £4000. Messrs Isaics's merchandise was covered by policies of £1500 in the Roval' Insurance. Company. £1000 in tlie Northern, and £1000 in the South British. The amount of goods destroy a I in this store, is however sittjjll. Store occupied by McArthur, Slwra, and Co;. Goods and building slightly injured. Goods ins'ur'cd' iii the Liverpool and Lonlon Company. The origin of the' fire is only a matter of conjecture. It is generally believed, however, Ihat the firo commenced , in the bales of flax in Mr Scherff's store. We are informed by Mr Scherff that the btoro was locked up at 8 o'clock in the evening, when there w.as no eign of fire. ■ The immediaic, source,- of'' the fi«( in the Government buildings was evidently the melting of the lead sheeting around the base of the westernmost chimney of the Telegraph office. When the lead was run off the fife had free scope and soon told its tale upon th"e timbers underneath. Had prompt measures been taken at 6lie time to check the fire from obtaining a firm hold of that roof the building would doubtless be safe now. During the wlioliS continuance of the fire Inspector Broham and the police under hie command were everywhere active, and deserve great praise for the measures they took to keep order «nd prevent the populucc from running into, danger. Mi-Broham himself' was partioularly active in the discharge of his dUtie'fr, which: were mosi onerous.