Dramatic Evidence At Inquiry Into Fire

Chronicle (Levin), 5 February 1948, Page 6

Dramatic Evidence At Inquiry Into Fire

Pr^ss Associatianj ■

(Per

CHRISTCHURCH, Feb. 4. Furtlier hieinbers of the stafi: of J. Ballantyne and Co. gave accounts of the iire on N ovember 18 wflen the Royal Conimission of inquiry xesumed this morning, ' .(Arthur lohn Tremelen Clements, in charge of tlie rnen's ready to wear clothing department, describing the arrivai of the iire engine, said it ,stopped in Colojnbo Street near, the fur-* nishing entrance. Oue man left the engine and went towards the entrance. He had coxne back to the saivage van and there' were four hien in the cab of the engine and ae' remackeu, " Why don't th.ey.get out and' do soniething. ' ' The co-buyer repiied tiiat they had to khow iirst wliat they had ro do. "I ■told Mr. Williams to" get 1 he outters out ■and 1 put my haud Jn a fixture and I could not keep my linud on n. 1 could feel extreme heat through, the floor. I looked along the floor whu-h was clear and saw three lines of flanie through the floor. They .stretcheji light across the department to the Caohel Street side of the lift. i called * o Williams to hurryup. He nsaked why was I calling*. I said, ' Look behind you,' and he sa'id, 'It's windows foi us/ We got out of the windows on io the verandah. ' ' After he had g'-ne out the window he, heard a ' ' wnocf • ' and the whole department burst into flame. ' 'When I saw the fire brigafle practically sitting- around the doing nothing, the inactivity of the hrigade made xne think that it was not very serious and that there was no immediate huxry to get out," he declared to Mr. Parry. He said there were iive ways of getting to the gfound floor. There was no direct aecess to the iire escape from his department. . Until he gave the order for evacuation, no oue had told hhm to evacuate his stafl!, he said. Marguerotta Nicholls, forewoman in the sliirt room, said dliat at 3.45 p.in. the giris jumped up and said, ' ' Mrs. Nicholls, Ballantyne "s is on, iire. " "I did not take much notice as 3 was used to them jumping up. Tlien tliey got their bags and said they were going home. 1 could see a crowd of people at the coruer. There was thick black smoke and 1 said to the girls that I did not think tliat it was Bailantyne's that they were .looking at.;' Mr. Hamel, the man in charge, came in, snid Mrs. Nicholis. Whei siie asked him if Ballantyne 's was on fire he said it was not and asked her to sit the girls down. They began to cough. Mr. Hamel came back and said there had been a bit of a fire, but that every tliing was under control and he andCa girl came down from the toilet department and said it was suft'ocating up there. Continuing her narrative, slie saiu "Mr. Hamel was reluctant to let them go. He went away and came back. Putting his head around the door he said: ' For Crod 's 'sake go for your lives. ; Then he rau through the tailoring room and that was the last I saw of him until 1 saw him in the street. The girls put on their coats and oif they went. I went back, into my room. " She described being flung back by the heat and smoke wlien-she opened the door. fclhe rau into the room and Oharles JDuthie, a presser, grabbed hei by the- snouiders and said: "This way. ' ' From there they made their way to the street. > '

Evidence Contradicted "I think the evidence is a deliberate lie, ' ' said Maurice Alfred . Jayies Hamel, manager of Ballantyne 's sliirt workroom, when he was asked by Mr. Young if he agreed with the evidence given by Mrs. Nicholls. He anc Charles Buthie were tlie last to leavt the workroom. After investigating the smoke he went back to the worlt room and said to the girls: "Cet out. There is no hurry. Don't get oxcited. Don't panic; " All went out except Duthie and liimself. He went to get his coat and hat. He was not "terribly" excited because he did not tliink it wa>3 so serious. Duthie came back to see if his iron was on. . Saw to Safety of Giris Her ordering of the giris from the juvenile clothing workroom on the second floor of Congreve's building after she had seen heavy looking smoke near the lift, was described by Lily Elizabetli Jenkinr She acted on her own initiative. Slie told them to get as far away as possible from the building. She followed tliCm all to the landing on the stairs. Five girls were with her. She stayod on the landing hclping a girl who was disstressed. She saw no flames m the building.

She definitely believed that lier re- . sponsibility as a head was to look after the safety of her stafl, said Hllen Hardy, in cVrge of the dressmaking workroom. She said she evacuated 16 girls from the second floor of Congreve's building. She took it for grant ed that that was her responsibility. Asr soon as she was told after seeing smoke outside the windows of the j mantle workroom on the second floor or GooJman's building, that the stafl: was ieaving Ballantyne 's, she oidered out 14 girls in the mantle workroom, said Eva Gladvs Drake, who was in charge. f Lola Marie Crew, xnillinery depart- . ment supervisor, said she twice ordered eight young women in- the millinery workroom on the third floor of Goodman's* huilding on Colomho Street, to leave. They hegan to follow her down the passage but when she reached the fire escape only one girl was behind her. The others perished. Breaking down when she was in tlie witness box, Mrs. Crew told of her agir • tation for the safety of the girls and : her efforts to - secure their rescue. Mrs. Crew saw smoke in the passage at 3.40. , ' The smoke increased ' ' all of a sudden ' ' in a gust: She was by the door to the display studio. She opened the door and ' called to two girls to "get out." She went back to the workroom. Tliere was [■no sign of smoke. She told the girls the $lace was filled

with smoke and they had hetter go by the fire escape. The girls did not take her seriously. She called sharply ^to them to follow her. "They did follow' me," said witness. ".There was no volume of smoke at the first door. When we opened the second door we were. me® by a cloud of dense yellow smoke. i felt my way along the wall hecause 1 could not see the fire escape. I could feel someone hehihd me. The girls definitely knew the way to the fire escape. The first door was open aua they used it every day. .1 went a "few steps down the escape and the .air cleared. I looked round and found o-nly one girl, Miss Burns, had followed me. She told me the others had gone back. ' ' ".She was very agitated and told Mr. Gilchrist she was worried about her girls. He went up the escape and disappeared into the building and snioke. She later learned he was foreed out by smoke. Mr. Crawford went up to another man who was also there. They went up two of three times. She went through the fire door into the credit office and met' Mr. Hudson there. He told hei« all the workroom girls were out. She told, him that applied to tue dressmaking girls but that her giris were inaccessible. She ran dowu to the cloak counter and spolce to Ken Bal■lantyne. She told him her girls .were still in the workroom and could not be reached because of smoke. ,He said he. would try to get to the worki'oom and immediately ran up the stairs. Mr. Ballantyne mentioned that he was trying to get her workroom on the phone. Going to the showroom on the ground floor she found customers still. "being served. She ordered the staff out into Litchfield Street and told the customers to go. She accounted for all these girls.

Girl Who Oheyed. Rosemary Anne Burns, aged 19, tne voungest employee in the lyiillinery workroom and tlie only employee to reach safety, said she had no clear recollection of wliat took place - after she left the workroom behind Mrs. Crew. When Mrs. Crew returned she told them to get out to the fire escape whieh they knew. All the girls kept on looking out of the- window. The second time Mi£s. Crew spoke loudeT l and said something like "can't you see there is smoke?" The girls* did not move very fast but they moved towards the door. As she went through the second door the smoke was verv dense. She was 311st behind Mrs. Crew. Rosalind Havman was just behind- her. She could not see in the outside passage. She "just went"- along it to the fire escape. The otlier girls; had not followed. Mrs. Crew was very upset and worried. She asked several people inside the doorwav to the credit otfice from the fire escape, to "get her girls out. " Mrs. Crew fiiade • the position very clear the first tim'e that there weis smoke and that tjtey were to get out to the fire escape, said witness to Mr. Thomas. She looked on what Mrs. Crew said the second time as a defimte command. _ The Conimission adjourned until tomorrow morning. -