A HUGE BLAZE

Hokitika Guardian, 24 April 1933, Page 5

A HUGE BLAZE

MILLIONS OF GALLONS OF RUM

£4,000,000 DAMAGE AT LONDON.

(UrHed Press Association— By Electric Telegraph—Copyright.)

LONDON, April 22. The biggest and most spectacular fire in London for many years occurred last night in Rum Quay, at the West Indian Docks. A vast warehouse in which millions of gallons of rum was stored in kegs and.vats, caught fire Saint Paul’s Cathedral was silhoutted against the glow, which was seen for twenty miles. The fire caused the whole of London to.be flooded with its light, and enormous crowds watched the scene. The flames rose eighty feet, and their glow was observed thirty miles distant. _ , Three and a half million gallons ot rum, stored in the bonded warehouses, blazed fiercely for five hours, despite the efforts of four hundred firemen. Cascades of the blazing liquor from the bursting barrels poured into the dock,, and burned furiously on the sur- ' face of the water. The fumes were so overpowering to the firemen that they had to work in relays, finally using oxygen breathing masks. The damage is estimated at four millions sterling.