FIRES IN TURUA.

Hauraki Plains Gazette, Volume XXXIX, Issue 5230, 23 January 1928, Page 2

FIRES IN TURUA.

TWO ALMOST SIMULTANEOUSLY. HOUSE AND WASH-HOUSE. Two fires o curj-ed at Turua on Friday afternoon practically at the same time. One w.a]s an old unoccupied house in Wailiou Street and the other was a wash-house of a residence) on Hauraki Road, oppositet he saleyalrds. In each case the destruction was complete.

There was a strong wind blowing, and as sparks were carried lonig distances to ignite the dry grass, there were fears that other houses in the township might be destroyed and that the fire would cover the whole block. The alarm was first given about 2.50 p-m., when Miss Aberhart noticed smoke issuing from the empty house next door. Almost immediately the whole place burst into fiapies, and within ten minutes it was burned to the ground. The flames were carried over to the wall of. Mr A- EL Abeiihart’s hofuse anid the weatherboards became ignited. The glass in the windows yas broken by the heat and the jciirtains were ignited. A crowd quickly collected, and a bucket brigade was formed. This, and a patent fire extinguisher from the factory, saved Mr Aberhart’s house, and thereby saved the whole block, for most of the other houses are very old and are surrounded in many cases by long dry grass. The building destroyed was owned by Bagnall Bros, and Co., Ltd., and as it was one of the original mill houses built about 50 years ago, it/was unfit for habitation and of practically no value. It was not insured. THE SECOND FIRE. Almost immediately afterwards the alarm wajs given of a fire in the washhouse of the. residence owned by Mr, A. -C. Ansford and occupied by his sliaremrlker, Mr Didovich. The origin is not known, as the shed had not been used since the previous day. Mrs Didovich had heard noises in some bags of coal stacked near the built-in copper, and suggests that the coal may hajve been smouldering since the previous day. The building was completely destroyed, and it is n|bt known whether it was included in the insurance of the house.