FIRE AT AUCKLAND

Evening Post, Volume CXXVI, Issue 85, 7 October 1938, Page 5

FIRE AT AUCKLAND

WILTON AND COMPANY

FLAME, SMOKE, AND WATER

(By Telegraph—Press Association.)

AUCKLAND, October 6,

Sweeping with amazing rapidity through the two top floors of a building at 63 Shortland Street, owned and occupied by G. W. Wilton and Company, Limited, a fire which broke out shortly after 5 o'clock caused several thousands of pounds' worth of damage to the stock of scientific equipment and chemicals and partly destroyed the ur> per portion of the building. The manager, Mr. A. A. Gray, and his typist, Miss H. G. Mehzies, were nearly trapped while looking for an elderly visitor who had disappeared. Dense black smoke enveloped near« by buildings and great tongues of flame, which leaped through the roof and out of the windows, for a time threatened the, premises of Snorter's Rental Cars, Ltd., on the western side and those of the Takapuna Jockey Club on the other side. Immediately the seriousness of the fire was realised, all cars belonging to Shorter's were hurriedly driven to safety. An alarm was given by Miss Menzies. She said afterwards that all other employees left the building at 5 o'clock. Mr. Gray and the visitor, Mr. F. J. Smith, were talking in the office on the first floor overlooking Shortland Street. She went downstairs, and as she reached the bottom she was startled to see a sheet of flame issue from a 12-foot-high bin of wood at the back of the ground floor. Next minute she heard a series of explosions, apparently caused by bursting chemical bottles. HURRIED TO TELEPHONE. Miss Menzies hurried upstairs to telephone the fire brigade and by the time she had raised the alarm the place was filled with smoke. In the general confusion she and Mr. Gray missed Mr. Smith. They wasted precious minutes searching for him among the long rows of fixtures in the warehouse, and when they failed to find him they had to race for safety from the advancing smoke and flame, which had burst up the lift well to the top floor, and was mushrooming down the staircases. They were just in time to escape by way of, the stairs to the ground floor, and were relieved to find that Mr. Smith had preceded them and was by then standing outside watching the fire. Firemen at once attacked the outbreak from Chancery Lane and Shortland Street. Meanwhile thousands of people had blocked Shortland Street down to Queen Street, and emergency squads of police were rushed to the scene to keep the people well clear of the building since, until the arrival of the manager, it was not known whether the building held explosive chemicals. Shortland Street and the immediate neighbourhood was enveloped in a heavy pall of black smoke and many bystanders suffered inflamed eyes and had their clothing drenched. Choking fumes came from burning chemicals and intense heat from the roof. EXTENSIVE DAMAGE DONE. In spite of widespread inquiries, it could not be determined whether' the premises held explosive or highly inflammable material, but the arrival of Mr. Gray the fears of the brigadesmen O n this point. Within twenty minutes it became evident that the concentrated efforts of the brigades were having an effect. The flames at the top-storey windows were less apparent, and all danger to adjoining vbuildings had passed. By 5.45 o'clock thei red glow had s disappeared, although smoke continued to billow from all sides. ' The only section of the second and third floors to escape damage was the office. The roof and top floor were in ruins and the second floor was strewn with broken bottles, charred wood, and damaged fixtures. Everything was waterlogged and smokeblackened. The back windows look out upon the ruins of the block of buildings once occupied by D.S.C. and Cousins, Ltd., which were swept by a disastrous fire on May 15, causing damage estimated at £40,000. According to Mr. Gray, insurances on both stock and building were held by the London Assurance, Corporation. He thought the policy on the stock was for about £4000 and that on the building about £2000.