THE WELLINGTON FIRE

Press, Volume L, Issue 14971, 19 May 1914, Page 3

THE WELLINGTON FIRE

A DRAMATIC SCENE

(special to "the fbxss.")

WELLINGTON,' May IS

The.fire in the Courtenay place lodg-ing-house on Sunday morning was responsible for'some rather cad scenes. To begin with, the night was bitterly cold, with a howling, ram-laden southerly blowing. According to the "Post," the whole course- of the fire was dramatic in the : extreme.. and the unfortunate inmates, forced out of their home in desperate haste, found themselves in" the midst of tho most bitter weather, with no clothing but the garments they had slept in. The hotel was a,not very pretentious building of brick, three stories Tho western side was a solid brick wall, and the eastern side faced upon a large open yard. Considering • the circumstances, it is wonderful that the loss of hie was not even more serious. The fire apparently broke out in the kitchen at the back of the ground floor, and the first intimation that anyone within had of the disaster was the flood of hot smoke. The proprietor was among the first aroused, and he at once made, for the front of the building. Tho •windows were opened to afford means of escape, and quite probably the immediate rush of fire up the back stairs and. along the narrow hall was what caused the death of the two victims. Their rocm was between tho passage and the solid brick wall, and was a tiny chamber without a window. They had evidently been unable to get out against the torrent of hot smoke, and had lx smothered, dying where they fell- 1"0 fire escapes were responsible for all the other injuries, apart from burns.

At the' level of each floor there is a small platform—at the front, and the rear, and on the eastern side —but they are not continuous with each other. From the front platform a vertical ladder leads down with a sliding extension designed to reach the ground, and- held up by catches. These are made so as to be released by moving a lever, but tie devire did not work. It was found afterwards that it was out of action, owing to the two parts of the ladder being tied together with a bit of small Those who by this route has in consequence -o arop several feet to the footpath, and so it was tuat -Ur Pinnock, carrying his child, was hurt. But a number of the people took the escape nearest them —that at the rear on the first floor. The rear one was out of tho question, because flames cut off access to it, and when they wero out on tho platform, they found no means for descending. They hurriedly got sheets and blankets and made hasty ropes, down which they scrambled.

Regan, a heavy man with a handicap of having only one log, was too great a weight, and the cloth carried away. He fell heavily, and his back was bad!y hurt. Mary Higginson also fell while gettinc over the rail, and broke several ribs. The rest managed to gpfc down without much harm, either by the bedclothes or t>y ladders which wem brouaht in time by the iiremon.

The side platform for all practical nurpose* is theoretically a cood escape, because it communicate; by means of a small. faHv fireproof passage with f.Kf* re*v n'o+fi-irm. *>"A w-JtV n Wider at the end of *he passage, but each end of tho na?«ige hf* a door, and the second of these could not be onened. The r>eople, driven to tV>e platform, were thus completely isolated, and the only m«nns of £•>».->**-<- i— i-n +t-e ro"a= + v< »y improvised tPI •w<? r e procured.