CLEARING THE DEBRIS

Hokitika Guardian, 6 March 1931, Page 2

CLEARING THE DEBRIS

LORRIES SET ALIGHT WHILE LOADINC. NAPIER, March 4. A month has elapsed since Napier was levelled by an earthquake followed by a fire which swept right through the business area of the city, yet 'demolition work reveals that the ruins of many buildings arc still red hot. So intense was the heat from bricks dug from the ruins of the Masonic Hotel building that two lorries on to which the debris was being loaded caught fire. The Masonic block, which contained a chemist’s shop, was one of the first buildings to burst into flame after the earthquake. Its shattered frame, its crushed and broken furnishings, and the countless personal effects of its guests and the members of its staff blazed for many hours, until there were few portions, even of the skeleton walls which were more than ten feet anove the ground. Down at the very centre of that pile of scorched and blackened ruins, captive heat has since remained, spreading gradually through the mass of broken brick. Demolition and clearing work has been going on for several days on the ruins of the Masonic. Debris was being loaded by steamshevfls on to the lorries, a fact which probably saved many workmen from suffering severe burns. Only a minute after one or two shovels of broken brick had been deposited on the lorries, tb- wood decking behind the drfv or’s cabin hurst into flames, and the Napier Fire Brigade had to he called before the blaze could be put out.