DISASTROUS FIRE

Hokitika Guardian, 28 January 1930, Page 4

DISASTROUS FIRE

OGILVIE’S SAWMILL. DESTROYED AT GLADSTONE. DAMAGE TOTALS £7OOO. One of the most serious sawmill fires that have ever occurred on the West Coast broke out last night about 11 o’clock at Kahikatea, seven miles south of Greymouth, where Mr Wm. - Ogilvie’s well known Gladstone Saw- * mill was the scene of the outbreak. The fire gained a quick hold, and by 11.30 its lurid reflection could be plainly seen from Greymouth. The alarm was given at Kahikatea about 11.15 p.m. by a lad named Hunter, whose parents reside almost' opposite ‘ the mill on the other side of the rail- ip way line. The hoy reported to Mr' Wright that the mill was afire, and Mr Wright lost no time in acquainting tho proprietor, Mr Ogilvie. The latter had just finished his nightly rounds of the mill, and was about-to retire to bed. The seriousness of the situation was intensified by the fact that about one and a half • million L feet of timber, mostly rimil, and the balance, white pine, was standing in. stacks alongside the mill, and extending for a considerable distance south of it along the railway line. This timber was in process of being • dried for- the Christchurch market, . and much of it had been there for a r considerable period, so that ,it ; was > v much more combustible than ordinary . milled timber as: it goes to..market. The flames which, it is believed, began with a spark from the ,boiler flying out and igniting the dry shavings around, quickly spread through the mill. A huge conflagration quickly arose, illuminating the .whole countryside, and reflecting off the hill just eastward behind the mill. Residents gathered from all around, and began with buckets and other receptacles to cany -water in order to prevent the advance of the flames among the very tall stacks of filleted . timber. The nature of the stacks ’ was such as to render them an easy prey to the flames. Hie fire fighters, after they saw the mill doomed, -‘set about saving the stacks,, and pulling some of these down; made a break between the mill and the majority of , the stacks to the south of it. The Greymouth fire engine was sent out and when it arrived, it very speedlv emptied a tank of a few hundred gallons, capacity, and w,as then , taken to the nearby lagoon, but, it was unfortunately found that this source allowed an inadequate degree : of suction to be of much effect. By midnight, however, the size of . the conflagration had considerably diminished, the mill having by that time been destroyed, together with much valuable plant—as the lane made among the stacks checked the advance of the fire. Two lorries that were located close to the mill were removed .ifl time to, avoid any damage to them, but the skids which from the mill almost out t-o the railway line were damaged to a large extent. ±

A couple of hundred people _ wqrespectators of the fire, and many feared at the onset that the whole of the timber would be lost, and there were > not a few surprised subsequently when Mr Ogilvie, who directed operations was able to set the limit of the loss at about £7OOO. However, the firm is a large loser, for there was no insurance carried either upon the mill or the timber. The fire was subdued to a great extent shortly after one o’clock, and in view of all the circumstances, especially the lack of a proper , water supply, this result was very creditable to all concerned, and much better than at first seemed possible.

One fortunate circumstance was that at the height of the fire, the wind veered to the south-west, thus turning the flames away from the majority of the stacks on that side of the mill. The stack of timber at this mill was probably tlie largest kept on the West Coast.. The mill itself was one of tlie best equipped in the whole district, and its restoration will be a matter of time and trouble. There have been no fewer than eighty men employed, and only that Mr Ogilvie is in a position to divert much of his cutting to two other mills, there would now be a numerous addition to the ranks of the) local unemployed. As it is, work at these mills will be found for the great majority of the employees. The seasoned timber that .was within the ambit of tTie fire burned like matchwood and the heat was very intense, so that in making the line, to save, the stacks southwards, the fire fighters had to go some distance _ from tlie flames, and thus sacrifice , some of the stacks. The reflection of

the fire lit up the sky most .vividly, and those who observed the.phenomenon from Grey mouth were able to realise that it was no ordinary blaze, and those who knew how the timber was filleted there concluded it would prove a total loss. For the Time being the .production of one of the busiest mills will be lacking from th© district output, but it should considerably be made up after a little delay by the extra activity of the two other mills to be utilised.