The Melbourne Fire.

Manawatu Herald, 11 December 1897, Page 2

The Melbourne Fire.

The Melbourne firemen had only just got to work on the fire at Craig's warehouse when the first touch of . sensationalism was imparted by the experience of the men in charge of the American ladder. The Argua gays that the ladder bad been erected 1; in the middle. of. the tram line, and.;'' had been run out to its full height to •:■ that a branch or two of hos» could be \ rua to the top of it, and water poured from that vantage point into the upper storeys of the blazing warehouse. Though the fire had not long been going, the heat.it threw out was terrific, and none but firemen oared to venture within a moderate distance of it. The ladder in thft middle of the roadway soon g«v» pruof of the fierce heat prevailing 1 by taking fire itself. As it biased at the top it was a significant ami forceful example of the fashion in which a big fire spreads. Standing rt& it did in the mi idle of the ro id way, and having nothing about it at all inflammable, it might have been considered quite safe, from ignition The fact that it caught fire r*hows what mere excess ol heat will do, and explains some of the wild jumps of the conflagration, I when highly inflammable dress stuffs and millinery were concerned. Mr Stein was himself astonished at the experience with his ladder, and, fearing that it would be destroyed, decided to take it down, and for that purpose ordered a man to go up and fix some of the gear The man coalman ed to climb the ladder, bat had not gone more than 18ft or 20ft when he staggered, and calling out "I cannot go any farther; it's too hot," descended as quickly as. he could. The chief was inclined to think the man had behaved with little heart, till he noticed that his face had actually blistered with the heat to which he had been exposed.