FLATS DAMAGED BY FIRE

Press, Volume CVI, Issue 31096, 27 June 1966, Page 1

FLATS DAMAGED BY FIRE

Fire destroyed the sittingroom of a third-floor flat and damaged other rooms on the second and third floors of a building at the corner of Springfield road and Bealey avenue last night.

The rear portion of the tile roof on the western side of the building was also destroyed. The fire started in the sittingroom of the top floor flat and spread through top floor rooms, into the roof, and into the flat beneath. Furniture and fittings on the third floor were extensively damaged. In the lower flat, which was less extensively burnt, some damage was caused by water.

The alarm was given at 7.21 p.m. over the emergency 111 telephone number, and three units from Central and one each from Woolston, Sydenham and St. Albans attended the blaze. When the engines arrived flames were rising from the roof, but the fire was soon brought under control with two hose deliveries.

A large crowd gathered to watch the blaze, which was extinguished soon after 8.30 p.m.

Damage to the top floors of the building, which is owned by Mr E. L. Tinker, of 40 Ranfurly street, was estimated at 10 to 20 per cent. The cause was not known last night. The Deputy Chief Fire Officer. Mr C. W. Stevenson, said that it was fortunate that there had been little wind, or the fire would have been more serious. The photograph shows part of a burnt-out flat on the top floor.