WOOLWORTHS’ FIRE

Dominion, Volume 28, Issue 96, 17 January 1935, Page 10

WOOLWORTHS’ FIRE

Insurance ‘on Building CONDITION OF INJURED By Telegraph.—Press Association Auckland, January 16. The building occupied by Woolworths, which was extensively damaged by fire last night, was owned by Mr. Charlton Dawson and insured by the New Zealand Insurance Company for £lO,OOO. Thousands of pounds’ worth of stock lie a mass of debris, and although the goods on the main shopping floor appear intact it is believed that they are all so much damaged that the value of the amount salvaged will be very small. The condition of the fireman, Janies Broadfoot, aged 25, who was injured, was reported this afternoon to be not serious. * Arthur Henderson, aged 35, a spectator who was knocked down by a train, was reported to-day to be in a serious condition. The busiest man in Auckland for a few minutes last night was the telephone operator at the Central Fire Station. He received over 100 calls to Woolworth’s fire in Queen Street. At 6.17 the first call from an alarm box arrived, and two engines dashed out. One mihute later another alarm box was broken. At 6.19 the first alarm was rung again, and immediately afterwards the other. Then telephone calls began to pour in, while the operator, having been advised of the seriousness of 'the fire, was trying to summon all the suburban brigades. Damage, which though perhaps not great in the aggregate, was serious to individuals, was done in the eight-story Cooke’s Building adjoining Woolworths. There were a number of frocjf and clothing firms in the building, and most of them suffered damage. A number of business offices escaped with smokestained walls and flooded floors; others had furniture charred. Many of the tenants had no insurance, and some only a. partial cover. In practically every office on one side of the building this morning the tenants were clearing away the wreckage caused by smoke and water. The latest estimates place the loss in Woolworth’s fire at between £35,000 and £40,000. This is based partly on insurances of £lO,OOO on. Dawson’s building and £26,300 on Woolworth’s stock. The damage to Cooke’s building totalled about £l5OO, while losses of tenants in Cooke’s and Imperial buildings were between £2OOO and £3OOO.