A BIG BLAZE.

Auckland Star, Volume XXXVI, Issue 35, 10 February 1905, Page 5

A BIG BLAZE.

SARGENT AND IJTTLEPROUiyS FACTORY UESTEOYED. A SUSPICIOUS CIRCUMSTANCE. A fire broke oat in the coach factory of Messrs Sargent and littleproud, on J the Strand, Beach-road, and practically j destroyed the factory" and its contents ! completely. The damage done amounts | to tome thousands of pounds, and the i insurance all told is only £1000: The' bxuldings and the contents (outside of j the motor cars) were insured for only j half their value, and the loss is prae- j tically total. The fire was not discovered till mid- ; night, but it had then such a strong | hold that it must have been burning for a considerable time previously, j Still, a number of people passed by the ] building shortly before the flames broke through, and saw nothing to indicate a fire. Constable Doyie passed the place at a quarter to twelve and saw nothing to rouse his suspicions. The midnight hour had scarcely finished chiming when the Parnell- firebell vehemently rang .out the alarm, -which waa heard for a long distance all round, the air being so clear and stilL Constable XJpscombe, the Newmarket policeman, was returning from duty to his home in Parnell when he saw a huge volume of smoke pouring up from the factory, and it was he who rang the bell. Simultaneously almost the flame 3 burst out in a huge 3heet, illuminating the vicinity vividly. The City Brigade was called out at five minutes past twelve by a small boy named MeVeagh, who broke the glass of the alarm at Alton-road. A resident on Constitution Hill was awakened before the alarm ww given by the sound of crackling, and getting up he saw the fire burst out. He went out to raise the alarm, but the bell sounded at that moment. The strange thing is that up till the moment in which the flames burst through, not a sign appears to have been seen of the fire. Beach-road is the main thoroughfare between Parnell and the city, and even up to a late hour pedestrians and cars in large numbers passed along it. There is no light beyond the feeble glow of the corner gas lamp and the big factory stood out in relief against the sky, so that any flames within might easily have been seen. The fire, however, ia believed to have started in the rear of the building, and it broke through the windows in that part first, and so it may have escaped notice. Very soon after the alarm -was given the City Brigade came screeching down and quickly had a couple of leads playing on the fire. The ParneU brigade also paraded in quick time and lent material Assistance to Superintendent Woolley, as also did a number of infantry volunteers who came down from the camp in the Domain. By the time the firemen got to work the building was being swept from end to end by tha names, and the whole of the interior was a roaring furnace from which great waves of yellow names and huge billowe of chocolate smoke swept skywards. From the start there never was a hope of saving the j structure, and the flames spread so quickly that little of the contents ccrald, be salved. Tho constables, with, the aic'l of some bystanders, broke in. one of the doers and threw open the main door, being thus enabled to get out a number cf milk carts and other vehicles, some lamps and the body of a motor-car, Cc/n----stable Lipseom.be also rescuing the books and papers from the smoke-filled business rocm. By this time the heat Jjad become intense, for the flames had spread from the back of the building, where it had evidently begun. V/'hen it was first seen the fire was apjpa rently confined to the upper part back cf the building, but by the time the brigade got to -work they had enveloped the whole place. It was a building with a. salvanised iron exterior, wood-lined, anl the lining was seemingly very dry. for it burnt vsritb. the' utmost rapidity, and within an •hour was nearly burnt out. It was not very long before the,roof of iron collapsed and fail into the seething vortex of flame below with a rattle and roar, and the sheet of blue flame that shot up almost instantly cs tho iron resolved Itself into gas showed f/raphieally the intense heat which 'ftad , -oeen generated. The spectacle from the mere sightseer's point of view was mftgnificent— the flames roared through, the windows, forced themselves through eyevices, and ate up the solid iron as tho Ugh it were paper, swept down on the plucky firemen, and more than oni'e enveloped them; the whole a brilliant lurid torch' which lit up the surrounding houses with brilliancy, and even made visible the houses on the North Shore and on the Domain heights. The firemen made a business of fire-fighting, of course, and what seem tremendous risks to the onlookers are no doubt small in the eyes of the firemen; but nevertheless there ■were many deeds of bravery done by the firemen. Once the flames in the front of the building grew terrible, and two or three firemen climbed up a small stairway at the side to get a lead of water on. to it. Suddenly the fire burst through the iron wall and swept down, a mass of mingled smoke and flame. on top of the firemon. They were lost to sight m the midst of it for a minute, but they never shrank. Again there was a big backdoor to be burst open. Two firemen flung themselves against it, but retired forthwith—it was red-hot. An improvised battering-ram was quickly obtained, and the door flew opea. Half a dozen firemen took the hose into the month of tha fire, and stood there for some minutes fiame-girt, the fire and smoke playing all about them. Thus the fire went on, -watched by a great number of people from all side 3. It waa not till one o'clock that the flames were got under. The buiiding was then nothing but a shell of torn and twisted iron blackened and scorched from end to end. THE DAMAGE. The damage cannot well be estimated, 1 but the loss U to all intents and puri poses total. The building was worth ' about £SOO, and was insured for £500 ! in the Guardian Office. The general ■ contents were reckoned at £ 1200 in I value, excluding certain motor-ears, I and the insurance was £ 500 in the same office. The motor-cars referred to -were three new ones being built for local owners. Ona had just been completed that evening for Dr. T. Hope Lewis—a 12 Lp. Darracq, valued at about £500. Another was being bxdlt for Dr. Gordon. —a 6 h.p. De Dion, valued at about £400. There was a third new Daftraeq of 12 h.p. being buiit for Messrs Skeates and Bockaert. They were stored in the front.part of the~upper floor, and could not be saved. There is apparently no special insurance covering them, and they seem damaged beyond the hope of repair. Captain Field, the Underwriters' Association's representative, has not yet made a calculation of the actual damage don«. Hβ mv

early on the scene of the fixe, and remained there till late this morning. Mr H. W. .deßaughlost £100 worth of material used in connection with the steam generator and portable copper, of which he is the manufacturer. The material was stored in the rear portion of the shed, and was uninsured. A SUSPICIOUS LIGHT. There are no definite means of accounting for the fire. T2e workmen "knock off" at five every.day. and last [night the only people in the buildi-g j after that hour were the members ol ! the firm, wlio left about six o'clock, I taking a casual walk through the build- ! ing to see that all was.safe. It seeniei* Jso at the time, and there were no fires jleft to cause apprehension. A curious I circumstance reported is that there J was seen distinctly burning in the bnildjing about eleven o'clock a lamp. Who ; had it is not known, as not a soul j other than the proprietors had a ri<*ht to be there at that time, and no one jelse had a right to a key. Thi3 leads to a conclusion that an inr«ndiary may possibly have been the cause of the fire. Inquiries are now bein» a, a de