A BIG FIRE.

Hokitika Guardian, 10 June 1924, Page 4

A BIG FIRE.

BLAZE IN Oil. BOND STORK. [nV 'II.LIXiItACII —I*Kit CItKSS ASSOCIATION. INVKiU'AiUULL. dune !• Invercargill to-day witnessed an awe-inspiring spectacle when the British Imperial Oil Company ol New Zealand's big oil iiiuid store went up in smoke.

.lust ns tin- sun set, a huge pull of black smoke commenced to stream across the .sky, and huge tongues ol tin me rose hundreds of feel in the air, like a gieat blin k curtain. The huge volume i.f smoke poured across the sk;. with ill" westerly breeze, and I rum live o’clock to close oil midnight it continued without 11 break, only in the late linin'.- nl the night, the eruption showing any noticeable tendency to decrease.

There were at least till,(ill cases of oil stilled in (lit- building, of vihieh lt;,.‘i(ll> were unloaded Iroln the Knt"art'ii, and stored away to-day. When the lust eases were being stored It";", the lire was discovered in the limit part of the building, and n .spread with stich appalling rapidity that, nothing could lie done to save the

All employee named Slllilll discovered ihe place to be i n li;c, and lie

pluckily tried to pul it out, bill so rapid "as the spread ol the iliunes, that lie was burnt about the arms and elic't and had to he taken to the hospital lor treatment, where an enquiry laic 10-nighl eliclleil tile iilfol ItiaUnl. that lie is progressing lavniirnbly. In addition t'o the cases ol nil. a quantity id lubricating oil "as iibo stored in the building, hut the exile! quantity !- not 1,110"'! at prts.'lll . All lira niiire panels urn- saved, hut the :tuiv \v;e irrei 1 lovably destroyed, only ilia waifs standing, and 11! a late hour tm-nichi there "Us -lill 11 qllen til.ll ni whether I lie IroMt "'all would hold, r.od prevent the lire spreading. Ihil il "ns then 1 onsidfiv.l that tilings had 1 liken a mare Inuielul turn. The greatest danger fining the Fire Brigade wa> tic pos-ihiliiy of the lire spreading to li'.a big bond slnres across the road, nain. ly. liie Va< mini (h! ( cmpaiiy’s i.mi S. I’nilciMill and t litnpuiiyVs. and elaborate prornutn tls v.cim taken In prevent this Imppolling. The Brigade rould only bring nut Inee into opera 1 ■oil. ilia lire being seine little distance from the town water mains, and this solitary stream ol vinter iiiuii the (■'asiinrks, was kept in use \« 11 In ini a slop ior «iv hours on end ni Imsing ill' oilier tv. 11 stores meiniuiied, from vvliieh huge clouds nr..' e. The Brigade I 1 inisiden d In have bandied ihe lire well ; far. and if the wall holds nut, no ini ther danger is antiei paled. 'I lie huildiii .:' and wnite'Us are eovered In. an oiiea policy of insurance. The 111 111 111 11 1 ill damage 1 overed is nm \ei known. The eail.se of the outbreak has not vet I.can 111 finiteli deti-i niinvil.