EMPLOYEE'S GRAPHIC ACCOUNT OF TRAGIC FIRE

Chronicle (Levin), 30 January 1948, Page 5

EMPLOYEE'S GRAPHIC ACCOUNT OF TRAGIC FIRE

press Association)

(Per

• CHRISTCHURCH, January 29. Uvidence of how the centre of Ballantyne's became a mass of- flames was given by Percy Gilbert Stringer, a salesman employed by the firm, when the Royal Commission oi Inquiry continued its hearing today. He was one oi . the ntst to see th'e fire startirig and recounted how, with others, nre extinguishers had been collected in the hope' of lormMig a eheck on the flames coming through the north and.wost wall and keeping the stairway clear. v

Striiiger said his attention had been drawn. to the smoke by Miss Drake.' It was coming up from the "basement. After . -investigating ' he asked. that the brigade be ealled and the heads of the firm were. sent for. He asked nohody in particular. * He made another .investigation of the>cellar an'd decided : that it was a job for the brigade. He riiet Mr. Falkingham-in the cellar as he went out, ahd Roger BaL lantyne- at the top of • the stairs. They and Falkingham had a hasty c.onference. Roger Ballantyne asked, "Has the brigade been called?" The answer was, "Yes." Witness ! did not know who repliod. The three of them decided to 1 bring the lead by the brigade • through the alleyway to the base- ; ment by the stairway. Mr. Falkingham was to undertake the meeting of the brigade. . ' Witness described his tour of the shop to see that it was empty of people and the eollection of fire extinguishers, which he took to the foot of the main staircase. Smoke was there and was increasing. He ; met there Roger Ballantyne and others who had collected fire extinguishers too. "The hope then was that with the extinguishers we c'ould at least form a check on anything coming through the firq door on the north gnd west wall keeping the main stairway clear," said witness. "I opened up the fire door in the north wall a fraction to learn if the water had gone in, as we had planned." "I saw flame in the furnishing department for the first time. The | air was very hot. It was a hot blast. I closed the door. I remember a member of the brigade coming through. I asked him where the water was going in. He warned me not to get trapped. Burnlng debris began to fall on the main stairway and was put out by fire' extinguishers. The fiamqs were coming through the fire doors on the west wall. McKay (another employee) and I decided we had stayed as long as it was prudent, and we went to Ca'shel Street. Windows Blew Out '"There was a 'woof' and where no smoke or fire had been in the centre of the shop it became a mass of flames. Two big windows blew out." Stringer, who had been in charge^ of Ballantyne's E.P.S. arrangements during- the war, said the warning system had been dismantled after the Japanese scare was over. He and others had carried on their interest in fire-fighting after the war with encouragement from Ballantyne's. "An eye was kept on the fire applianqes," witness said. "This group met at the stairs on the day of the fire and tried localisation qnd control »as practised in the E.P.S." When a man told Roger Ballantyne that the brigade had been rung "for witness had no doubt the as'surance was correct, nor would Ballantyne have doubt. There was no loss of time in doing things that should have been done. Stringer was closely crossexamined by Mr. C. G. Penlington (fof the fire brigade) about directicns giyen to the brigade. He said it wsas left to Mr. Falkingham to direct the brigade into the cqllar through the -alleyway; There were alterhative means ■ or access tp the cellar, but it did not oceur to him that the brigade should be directed by those ways. He considered that the alleyway, the closest way, was the best way in the early stages, after which he would leave it to the brigade to decide the best way to fight the -fire.- He was only a layman. " •

When he saw a fireman m the shop he did not give hixn any direcr tions. He was amazed' when he found no water, had gone in the alleyway. ,, , . , , Once he helieved the brigadewas called he thotight not of fighting* the fire but of saving the people in the buildihg. Brigade's Difficulty What happened" in the alleyway when the fire brigade arrived was described by Edith Drake, who was in chargs of the approval office on the day of the fire. After the fire was discovered she went into the lalleyway. .. pi, . , , "I stood at the doors of the nght-of-way outside my office for several minutes thinking the brigade would come along and I could show them the way down to the * cellar, ' she said. "The smoke becameA.so dense and thick that I went out,' leaving the door fastened open and \ wenr down the alleyway. ' I stood With Mr. Falkingham ' waiting _ for the brigade to arrive. He waited one" or two minutes — it seemed a week —and the brigade arrived. Mr. Falkingham instructed a fireman to go down the right-of-way and he went with him. "When Mr. Falkingham opened the door the bottom half of the right-of-way was black with smoke. I heard the fireman say he could; not get in the door for smoke. I don't think he could find the door. "They opened the side of the fire engine and were supposed to have taxen respirators out, but I did not see any more from that point." _ , The cross-examination of Miss 1 Drake will pr'oceed when the Commission resumes the hearing 10inorrow morning.