BALL OF FIRE

Hokitika Guardian, 17 July 1933, Page 7

BALL OF FIRE

DURING FIERCE THUNDERSTORM IN VICINITY OF ST. PAUL’S LONDON, June 30. Si,. Paul's Cathedral narrowly escaped' being struck by what is described at a “ball of fire” during a | fierce thunderstorm which broke over London. The “ball,” declared by witncssess to have been about twice as big as a football, with a fiery tail three or four yards long, appeared to fall from ■ the sky and “burst” with a terrific explosion in St. Paul’s Churchyard. ..he concussion rocked the steel framework of a covered roadway at the General Post Office, several hundred yards away, and broke many panes of glass. Houses were struck by lightning and roads and buildings were flooded by torrential rain in London and many other towns-. A graphic description of the “ball of fire” was given by a policeman who was on duty in St. Paul’s Churchyard at the time. “I heard a sharp crackling noise,” he said, “and looking up, saw a big ball of fire coming over the cathedral and directly toward me. I caught sight of a tail of fire stretching three or four yards behind it. Instinctively I ducked and then there was an explosion or a clap of thunder. I hardly know what happened, for I was dazed and bewildered, TERRIFYING EXPERIENCE “Several clergymen wlio were going to the cathedral for a service, and other people, ran to my assistance, asking if I was hurt, but I soon recovered from the shock. In the whole of my four years in France during the war I never had such a terrifying experience, even from ‘Jack Johnsons.’

“There seemed no escape from the ball of fire, which appeared to be falling right on to me. It was as large as the globe of a- street lamp and even now I cannot understand why I was not struck down, or what happened t 0 the fire ball. It must have been shattered directly after I looked up, when it seemed about loft above me,, but I saw nothing of, the burst. I. was just stunned and motionless and next realised that a .number . of people were gathered around me.” In a few minutes the constable recovered from the shock and resumed his duty.

Other witnesses said that the.‘‘ball,” when first seen, appeared to bo descending from the south .with tremendous speed cr a course whifih would cause it to crash into the dome of the cathedral. It appeared t 0 pass over the front of the cathedral at a sharp angle and then seemed to burst when at a height,of about loft, from, the ground,near the west entrance. No trace of anything was found in the roadway afterwards.

1500 PEOPLE IN CATHEDRAL A congregation of about 1500 people who had gathered for a missionary festival service, were in the cathedral at tile time. About IQ minutes before the service began the congregation heard a noise described by a cathedral official afterwards, as. being, like the sizzling produced when red-hot metal is plunged into water. The noise was clearly heard in the cathedral, but there were few signs of alarm. At the General Post Office, while some windows were broken elsewhere, the main damage was at what is called the East Yard—a covered roadway lying immediatly behind the public Post Office wing in King Edward Street.

An official stated that there was no question of the place having been struck by lightning. There was a tremendous clap of thunder, “and,” he said, “the whole of the iron structure locked with the concussion, and We could hear the noise of glass smashing in the roof”.

The roof is composed of very thick panes of glass, between 30 and 40 of which were afterwards found to be cracked. All the glass is reinforced with wire netting, which prevented .splinters from falling on the heads of those working beneath. The “ball of fire,’’might have been a flash of so-called ball lightning or it might have been a “fireball,” which has no connection with lightning. Bail light" ning is a form of lightning in which the progress of the flash is very slow, so that the discharge has the appearance of a ball of flame moving through the air.

A “fireball,” on the other hand, is a solid particle, which enters the earth’s atmosphere from outer space and becomes incandescent from friction in its rapid passage through the air. It differs from a meteor only in being larger and in approaching nearer to the earth’s surface before it is consumed by the intense heat. The storm over South London last3d for over four hours. The rain was exceptionally heavy and there was considerable flooding in most districts. A r one time there were three distinct storms going 0 n at Croydon, at lvingsston and near Hammersmith. In the Mitcham Pond wooden blocks were forced up in many places, and Croydon Fire Brigade was inundated with calls to clear the debris from the roads and deal with the flooding.