AMAZING SWIFTNESS OF FIRE

Chronicle (Levin), 19 November 1947, Page 7

AMAZING SWIFTNESS OF FIRE

SPECTATORS SEE TERRJFVINC DRAMA ENSCTED Ihe fieivest evei* seen in Christchurch, the fire whieh began in the basement oi' the i'urniture section, the i'urthest south in ( olonibo Street. . swejit vvith amazing'- swii'tness through the big bloek, whieh, vvithin 20 minutes, was ablaze irom top to bottom. ihe tii-e was su inlense that the Oamaru stone i'ace of parts oi' the buikling was turned iuto lime. Those in neighbouring buildings who hcard the screams of the women, saw thern moviiig franlieaiiy about in the inferno. Those niinules will lorever ivmain seared 011 their memori'es, Spectators oi the teaiiul panie witii a tragically inevitable end, thev were helpless. Any Jiope oi the reseue oi' other than those who risked tlieir lile by juniping Irom the windows — tliree girls only took tlie leap oi- elinibiiig out to safety, was gone by the time the tire brigade arrived. Aided by vohmteers i'rom nearby engineering works, the tiremen, seoreJied by the heat whieh cracked windows 80 yards away, dii'ected 6000 gallons of water a minute from ra any hoses into the buiidiitg. A.though the fire was beyond control and'was raging right over tlie whole building wJien the brigade arrived, it was cheeked before it l-eached tlie tearooms in the Cashel Street end of th.e bloek. At several stages neai-by buildings were menaced by cascades of embei-s and an old building oeeupied by WaJlace and Co.. clie.mists, at the nortliern coj-ner of Cashel Street and Colombo Street, aetually eauglit fire, the outbreak- being- caught in tlie earliest stage. The first* warning the people in the streets rceeived of the fire was a dense blaek eloud of smoke pouring hundreds of feet into the air Irom Hallantyne's building. Within a few minutes tiames were colouring the smoke as it poured from tlie roof and burst out of windows. The erowd that gathei'ed (piiekly in Colombo Street on the opposite side from Ihe burning building saw dramatic scenes as tremendous tongues of liame swept through tlie building. Anxious qweslions wei-e asked. "Is there anyoire still inside.'" said a maii whose daughter woi'ked in Ballantyne's. llis question was answei-ed fearl'ully as sereams rose from tlie building above the roar and erackle of the tiames. h iremen made Jrantic att.empts to ])lace ladders against the to}> stoi'ey windows where people were still trapped but they wei-e beaten by tieree gusts of smoke and the terrifie heat. Ih'ojile 1 lu-onging tlie windows of Beaths building inimodiately opposite, wate.Jied a terrifying drama. Two girls were trapped behind a window on the top storey. In despcration they jumped and feil on to tlie verandah below them and above the' footpaih From here, unconseioiis, they were dragged by firemen. A few minutes later A1 r*. Iven Ballantrae appeared at the balcony l-ound a window on the 1op storey near the interseetion of Colombo and Cashel Streets'. For five minutes he swaved there while against the intcnse heat and blinding smoke' firemen st ru ggl c! I ]o reaeh liim. At last through a rii't in the smoke jiouring from the windows, the ten.se crowd saw Af r. Ballantync being beljied down a laddei- to the eomparativo safety of the broad verandah over the street. As tlie suspense broke the crowd in Colombo Street choered spontaneously. By 4.-) ]).ni. the heat in Colombo Street outside the south ern end of Ballautyne's grew too tieree for the people who were watcliing. As a ])ower fiole near the burning building caught fire the erowd retreated. A few minutes later live wires fell to the grouud in a s])lntter of sparks. During the next i'ew minutes nothing could clieck the inferno that was raging inside the shell of tlie entirc building. Creat clouds oi .smoke rose 200 feet i'rom the storerooms and workshops at Ihe rear of Ballantyne's. There was evory danger that the fire would spread through the bloek of buildings that ruiis south from Cashel Street to Lichfield Street. While employees of Andersons Limited, engineers, in Lichfield Street. rushed important offiee records and rnachinery to sal'e storage aeross the street, oue oi' the fire brigade 's engines sent hoses into tlie tangled labyrinth of the old building in the traek of the fire. The ])i-emises of K. IJeeee Limited, the Cenlral llotel, Ballan tyne's warehouse and Anderson's group of buildings, were at: this stage all 1 hreatened, along witli several small sliops ih Colombo Street. For several erilieal minutes the fire raged at the rear of Ballautyne's warehouse. Xext door, in lioeee's building, amniunition and cartridgcs were hastily being takeu I'rom storage along tlie walls whieh were getting dangvrously wann. Par1 of the wall at the rear of the building fell in but at this stage the fire was cheeked in Lichfield Street. A water lank on the i-oof of Ballautyne's warehouse boilod J'uriously as th.e tire worked towards it. Steam rose from the walls of Anderson's workshop and a liose had to be played there to ])reveui the old womlen lining of Ihe building from catehing tire. Thirty-fi ve minutes al'ler the fire started. it was still burning fui'iously at Ihe lower end of Anderson's Lane along -whieh it 1 hreatened to advanee. A wooden beani projeeting i'rom the rear wall of the Cenlral Tlolel eauglit fire witli the heat but this was dou.sed and 1here was no furlher damage 1o that building. A:'ter a strnggle from Anderson's Lane and other right-of-wavs in Lichfield Street. th.e tiremen. helped by workmen, were able to eoiit ro'] tlie fire but several valuable buildings were saved by only a very narrow margin.

HUC-E CROWDS GATHER. Fnmi tlie eorner of Cashel and Colombo Sti-eeis it was possible to watch tlie efforts to in-eveiit tlie fire spi-eadiug. By 4 o'eloek the huge mushrooiii shaped pall of smoke rising hundreds of feet, had altracted thousands oi people into the neighboiiring streets and business was brought to a standstiil in shops ;md nftiees witlyn Lwo bloeks of the fire. At this stage erowds were surging down Cashel and ( olonibo , St reets to within 100 feet of the eorner but the heat aloiie was soon suffieient to drive theni baek liall'way down tiie bloek. Those bchind soon puslied ihem lorward again until reint'ori enients of poliee arrived. Creat work in e.oiitrolling the crowds was done by naval liien and Jloyal Marines from H.Al. N.Z.S. Bellona whieh is visit'^g Lyttelton. A large number were on leave in the city and some proniptly nioved in to assist the, firemen while others fanned out toi keep the erowd baek. | Fire engines arriving in Cashel, Street from Iligh Street were con-j tinually impeded by the crowds | on the street and on at least twoj oceasions people narruwly missed; being run down. 1 By 4.15 p.ni. the Colombo Street

.side of the building was a blazing [inferno and the 'flaiiies were leap j ing at least 100 feet above the i building. Firemen plaving hoses j on that side worked in terrifie j heat and rceeived their only relief { from inen who seeurod armfuls oi jsol't drinJvS from lieighbouring j shops and liehl the bottles to their j lips. (Aratitude was expressed in | earnest sliouts. | big job for firemen. | ^ The eastern side of Cashel j Street was a maze of hoses with i hydrants as far rouiid as Higli J Street being tapped. Firemen eoneentrating six leads on to the south ern end of the building did a great job in -preventing the fy'o i J'rom spreading in that direetion. ] For neariy au liour it seemed jthat little headway was being i made biit towards 5 o'eloek the I flames at that end began to subl side (juickly and the engine with ! its high extension ladder withj drew to another part. Tliree other hoses working from Colombo Street nearer the eorner, poured thousands of gallons of water into the building. It entered tlie windows and was simply Iqst in the blazing interior, The comparafively narrow windows in the upper st.oreys were difficult

targets-for the tired men directing the powerful jets. On the eastern side the roar of the flames and liiss of water was punctuated only by the erash of falling iron and girders and explosive sounds as lar^e plate glass wpidows cracked or caved in. The power lines began to fall about 4 o'eloek and fused with a brilliant flash. Employees in the shops opposite Ballautyne's on both streets, were directed early to remove stock from the windows. There was then imminent danger of the fiames leaping the street and for at least lialf an hour there was still a danger of the heat breaking windoM-s and damaging goods. Men eontinued for more than an hour to play hoses or throw buckets of water 011 the fronts of tlie buildings opposite to redime the heat and repel sparks. A touch of irony was apparent 011 the eorner. At that entrance there is a small island window and while the building behind was crimson and gold with flames, this remained intaet and a poster of Santa Claus beamed out with a Christnias message. Tliere was none of the glamour that often attracts crowds to a big blaze. O11 all sides there were expressions of sorrow and eonceru for the occupants of the building rather than comment 011 the magnitude of the blaze. Cameramen of the Xational Film L nit who had visited Christchurch for the South Island ehampionship show, were still in the city and they took many reels of motion pictures of tlie tiro at its height. People crowded vantage points all over the city. There were seores 011 the verandahs of shops nearby and the rooftops of buildings further out also carried many' people. The heat of the tire was felt neariy half a mile away where people watched from ' upper storeys of buildings. Although generally the public stood weil baek i'rom the tire, a hose had to be turned on the crowd at the eorner of Cashel and Colombo Streets to drive them baek. A hose was also used to dispose of an unduly large crowd whieh had gathered 011 the verandah of a sliop opposite Beaths' eorner. The collapse of the verandah would have added to the problems. people horrorstricken i It was a hushed crowd wliicli' waited behind ropes for eonflrma- ! tion of fears that tr.agedy hadj stalked with the fire. As rumoursj t-rickled through of the mountingi death roll, the crowds became silently horrorstrickcn. ' Tlie .yrew of a National Aii-ways UorporatrtV^^biit4- ;' arrived at CliJ'istehurch shortly; al'ter 4.15 o'eloek, could see the pall oi' smoke from the fire about,

30 miles away. Although visibility was by no means perfeet at the height of the fire, it was estimated that the smoke rose 'to between 4000ft and 5000ft. Some minutes before the aireraft reached the city it was apparent that the fii-e was an unusually large one and even at Harewood it was plain that the flames were more than 50ft high and covered the whole roof. Several aireraft flew over the city after 4 o'eloek. The instructor of the Canterbury Aero Olub who pilotcd a Tiger Moth, said this evening that the whole roof was a mass of flames and the smoke clouds were higher than 4000ft. He could ssee the flames shooting out of the windows 011 the Cashel aua Colombo. Streets frontages and tho eft'orts of the firemen to prevent the spread oi the fire to the adjacent buildings. DAMAGE ESTIMATED AT HALF A MILLION \ A i-onservative estnuate ot tiie aetual iire dauiage to Ballantyue L L'.uldings and stock is £500, 000, tlie stock aloiie being valued at more than £500,000. Only tlie workroom part of he bnilding in Colombo Street was owned by Ballantyne and Co., Ltd., the rest lieing leasod from the Br-itt estate. Jnsitrances were not obtainalii'.' tonight lmt were kuown to have bei ii held in a number of olrices. Occupying more than one acre, Dunstable llouse was one of tlie best known business , premises in the Dominion. The business of J. Ball.iu tyno and Co. was eslablished iu 1S01 and extensions were made until about 1918. Tlie lirm took over the eorner of Colombo Street where about 50 year.i ago the drapery store of Lonigans was destroyed, and had possession of the eomplete frontages in Colombo and Cashel Btreets. The premises were in four seetions separaied only liv a narrow riglit-of-way 'olf Colombo Klreef. In general the building followed tlu Italian style of arehiteeture. Tliree hundred were employed at Dunstable jllouse. Every department in the store, jone of the biggest in New Zealand, ua:j f ully sloeked with goods for the Christnias and summer trade and for tho ;publie, apart from the stark tragedy, ithe Iire could not have occurred at a jworse timo. Whether the Colombo and j Cashel Btreet frontages of the building j will have to be pulled down for safet\ j will be delenuined tomorrow morniug I The central fiarl of the tliree sectioniin Colombo Btreet had a lean of one foot and a-half towards the street to- ; night and the buildiug 011 Cashel i Sfreet also had a pronounced leun j (.'olonibo Street was roped oi'f and jguarded throughout the night.