BIG BLAZE

Hokitika Guardian, 15 December 1932, Page 3

BIG BLAZE

TOWN BLOCK BURNT.

DA.MAGE OK £70,000 DONE

BRISBANE, November 23

Daninjj’i cst,mated at b-t.iccn £do,GGw aim £4),Oil'd was done by t.. 0 worse Are in the hisu.rv ol Townsville, Queensiami, vouch occurred on Novoa.ivir 2-., wd.cn a block if business premises m ill/ corner of Flinders and oioke Street:,, the bus.est int.iv.eetion in tne 'cuy, was des'm oyad. AT, K.mmin and Lnluirdson, gcuer..l drapers and lo.rni.sliers, who owimd tile building, were the heaviest losers, but Vv. Ca..n.ug s to.-accjiiisi-'s shop and ( oImrn’s costume s..h;ii wen: also destioyed, while the Humus leapt the iuteri, .ling s]> rce and caused considerable daim.ge co the Queensland Hotel. Tile block, covers half an acre, and has a- frontage of 132 Pact on Minders Street, and 1-30 fa. I on Stokes Street, was a brick building of two ..stories, the second of wLa h wi s occupied. by ofric: The outbreak was fust noticed by Constable Duncan, who, coming on duty at 10 o’clock, noticed ILumcs in the rear portion of the building used by AlcKiinmin and Biehardsi.il ;:s a bulk store. Jn response: to his alarm the lira brigade coinpr-sing thru: machines, manned by every available member of the forev, under the cliitf officer, .Mr’Garvan, arrived on the scene in a few nrnutes, attacking the outbreak from all angles.

HUGE -MASS OF FLAMES. Hoses run fiom every fireplug in the immediate vicinity failing io supply wiifMc.ent water to combat the bk.ze, tne lir.iiien were, lor.cd to augiiiuic .ha supply by pumping water d.rnct .i-oni uoss Cr.ek. The supply at first /.as only moderate, hut shore.y al’ierwa.ds was increased, am! tliousands -f of vaur were poured in lnim all sides. Within a few minutes of the discovery of the outbreak the- wlu.lo portion of the struci lire INoutin*.- Stoke Street was a nuuss of Haines. The liie raged through every department on that side of the building, tie heat within o') yards living unbearable. When tli.: Hie reached the E'iinikra Street end on this side the wind oreniul to change, and the flames boat back toward the premises of Green land Hawkins clrmiibste, in an ?idjoii.ing luilding, wiiicli they occupied, with A. D. Kays, hoot .slop. Bursts, of flame c lninenco 1 to shoot •Out from the '.-ho. w on tiro low: r stoccy, ;-it linns rtuchhig out to tie roadway, accompanied by shirt e .plosions, as th big windows uroke under tie intense heat.. Now the flames, driven before the wind, •sprond to the central portion arc! front of the l.reniisors jn Flinders-'Street, ard with the Stoke Street front occupying the itfention of the brigade, the Homes shooting hj.gh into the air from o lier -parts of the building t!;e task of the fire-fi.g’.vte.-.ai w.is a diffinult one. EVoni the first it was asking the' iirpo silde c f the illmnen., so firm a gr s') had the Haims on the -w’ o'© s meter; 1 . ard the most they cudd do was to try to rave the adjoining building. COLLAPSE INTO STREET. Next to the endangered wan the Qi;ceir.-Lnder Blot-.] in Riikle-rs Sfrcvt, on the er stern si da c f the biasing block, the whole of which was. enveloped in H.lines by eleven o’clock. Five minutes later the upper portion of the structure fronting Stake Street c o!lapsed with a terrific crash into t' e sM-ivt. all that remained being a glowing framework. Almost from the commencement the rear portion of the premVscw occupied by 'Canning and Co’.urn were ablaze. and for a eoii.-.iden.bfe time befoAi the, fir© had' swept through the rest of liie pre-mis-n poure 1 forth ;.!euso ekniJs of smoke which sei'i ousl.v lirnirored the fire moil in their work, which later they were driven hack time after time by the flnines witch shot through the shattered windows.

MT.unVhilf. by the e .Torts of a willing baud of spec ator?, a large (pi mfty of eh.f’iing and bedding was removed from the Queenslander Hotel, and firemen availed themselves of vantage mints on the verai'da of the building lo direct streams of water into the inferno which an hour before hy.fl been a ■ solid • I.Jock of buddings. A isi-ted by a c-ouTrei'e wall wlr'cli eeparatd 1 the burning building from tlie hotel, they succeeded when the flames did,, roach the gap in confining them to tbv kitchen lorticn of the structure. Then perti' ns of lie lower structure •and veri.nd'h awning nearest the ( orner of Du* Imsircr.s Ido'k i ollar-ed, driving the firemen buck to safety. Brjcku and Idizing rafters fe'l as far rut as the road way, while some < f the masonry crushed into the midalc of the street.