TERRIFYING DRAMA

Otago Daily Times, Issue 26622, 19 November 1947, Page 4

TERRIFYING DRAMA

LEAP FROM WINDOW GIRLS TRAPPED IN BUILDING P.A. CHRISTCHURCH. Nov. 18. The first warning people in the streets received of the fire was a dense cloqd of black smoke pouring hundreds of feet into the air from J3allantyne's building. Within a few minutes flames were colouring the smoke as it poured from the roof and burst out of the windows. The crowd that gathered quietly in Colombo street on the opposite side from the burning building saw dramatic scenes as tremendous tongues of flame swept through the building. Anxious questions were asked. “Is there anyone still inside? ” said a man whose daughter worked in Ballantyne’s. His question was answered fearfully as screams rose from the building above the roar and crackle of the flames. Firemen made frantic attempts to place ladders against the top-storey windows, where people were still trapped, but they were beaten back by fierce gusts of smoke and terrific heat. People thronging the windows of Beath’s building immediately opposite watched a terrifying drama. Two girls were trapped behind a window on the ton storey. In desperation, they jumped and fell on to the verandah below them and above the footpath. From here, unconscious, they were dragged by firemen. Director’s Ordeal A few minutes later Mr Ken Ballantyne appeared at the balcony round the window on the top storey near the intersection of Colombo and Cashel streets. For five minutes he swayed there, while, against the intense heat and blinding smoke, firemen struggled to reach him. At last through a rift in the smoke pouring from the windows the tense crowd saw Mr Ballantyne being helped down the ladder to the comparative safety of the broad verandah over the street. As the suspense broke, the crowd in Colombo street cheered spontaneously. By 4.5 p.m. the heat in Colombo street outside the southern end of Ballantyne’s grew too fierce for the people who weje watching, and as a telegraph pole near the burning building caught fire, the crowd retreated. A few minutes later live wires fell to the ground in a splutter of sparks. Threat of Spreading

The premises of E Reece. Ltd., the Central Hotel, Ballantyne’s warehouse and Anderson’s group of buildings were at this stage all threatened,, along with several small shops in Colombo street. For several critical minutes the fire raged at the rear of Ballantyne’s warehouse. Next door, in Reece's building, ammunition and cartridges were hastily being taken from storage along the walls which were getting dangerously warm. Part of the wall at the rear of the building fell in, but at this stage the fire was checked in Lichfeld street. The water in the tank on the roof of Ballantyne’s warehouse boiled furiously as the fire worked towards it. Steam rose from the walls of Anderson’s workshop and a hose had to be played there to prevent the old wooden lining of the building from catching fire.