BUS DESTROYED

Hokitika Guardian, 28 January 1929, Page 2

BUS DESTROYED

blaze on paroa road

GREY A!,ORTH, January 28

A large Reo omnibus, owned liy Mr 11. Hahn, was totally destroyed by fire on the Paroa Road about 8 o’clocklast evening. Fortunately there were no passengers m the vehicle at the times, and the driver (Air H. Kirk) escaped without injury. The bus had conveyed a number of cricketers to Kumara, and was returning unoccupied to Gveymouth, when it met with disaster. The vehicle was within half a mile of the Paroa flotel when the driver noticed what in the dusk momentarily appeared to bo a cloud of dust in front of the radiator. He slowed up, and as he did so noticed that a large amount oil' bhm smoke was issuing from the bonnet, and the next moment a sheet of flame darted from the side. Mr Kirk had scarcely time to got clear of the hits when a laigo petrol tank, running lengthways at the side, became ignited, and the entire vehicle was enveloped in flames. A huge cloud' of smoke ascended, and the flames roared fiercely, reducing the wooden body ol the bus to ashes in a comparatively brief period, ihe ehasiss continued to burn if or some considerable time, the tyres and the framework being totally destroyed. So intense was tin 1 heat that portions of the metal work became red hot. The road was blocked for over an hour, dozens of motor cars being held up on either side of Hie binning vehicle. A large crowd, comprising residents and motorists en route, witnessed the spectacle, the latter being obliged to wait until the lire burnt itself out. i no flames caught some scrub at the side of the road, and a large patch was destroyed. The bus was reduced to scrap iron, only the buckled 'framework of ' the chassis remaining. It was lound impossible to remove the latter, and a lamp was placed on it to warn motorists and others of the obstruction. The road, however, was sufficiently clear to enable traffic to proceed. The bus was only partially insured. The exact sum is not available, hut it is understood that the owner has suffered a heavy loss. The engine was only recently overhauled at a cost ol ■c wo.