WHISKY IN FLAMES.

Rangitikei Advocate and Manawatu Argus, Volume XXXIV, Issue 9467, 9 June 1909, Page 6

WHISKY IN FLAMES.

• HALF A MILLION GALLONS DESTROYED. London, April 25. Half a million gallons of whisky blazed into nothingness at Belfast yesterday. * While two menjwere working about ' noon at a barrel of whisky on the third floor of the bonded stores of Messrs McConnell, the distillers, the barrel slipped, 'crashed through the floor, and burst. A gas jet set fire to the escaping spirit, and the place was instantly in a blaze. Some, of the workmen and Customs officials at the stores tried to extinguish the flames, but so quickly did they spread to other barrels that the men had to fly for their lives, and the alarm for the fire brigade was given. The firemen were handicapped by the smoke and fames of the burning whisky, and in a short time the upper storeys were on fire. Many firemen were overcome by the heat and smoke,' and at one time there was a regular procession of bearer parties carrying out to the _fresh air half unconscious firemen. The removal Of some of the men was attended witn much difficulty, as they bad to be assisted down small ladders. INFERNO OF FIRE. The whole building was soon a raging inferno, and for the next two hours the flames simply licked up everything in -theii path, and were advancing fast towards a large timber yard and the extensive printing works of Messrs David Allen, and a big chemical store caught. The scene from the central gate of the doomed store in Dnbaxu street daring the height of the fire was a striking one. The walls were bulging out,' and threatened to topple over, while immense sheets of flame leapt out and scattered the firemen. street the flames spread like a river of fire along the streams of escaping spirit in the roadway. When the chemical works took fire the flames burst out with tremendous fury, and there was a general stampede of the thousands of spectators on the opposite aide of the road. There was a constant cannonading as various chemicals took fire. The flames towered to an enormons height and the black smoke, which at times almost shut out the daylight, "made the scene weird and unearthly. The firemen,'who at each explosion were driven hack by the suffocating fumes, displayed the greatest courage, returning again again to the attack, and -by 6 o’clock they had obtained a grip on the fire; although the flames were still burning fiercely. About 8 o’clock a wall collapsed without warning, and six people received serious injuries, necessitating their removal to hospital. Two firemen were also severely injured and are In hospital, the total number of casualties being twenty. At 10 o’clock the fire was still burning fiercely, and the fire brigade was bard at work on buildings adjoining the bonded store, while the burning whisky continued to run in streams along the streets. The gas supply was out off from the district in order to avoid explosions. The damage is estimated at not less than £250,000, and the bonded stores, which is one of four belonging to the firm, was destroyed. One of the firemen, William Hardy, before being taken to the hospital, received first aid treatment in the street from Dr. Davidson, who desired to administer whisky to stimulate the heart’s action. The man resolutely refused it, however, pushing the glass away repeatedly, and murmuring—he could scarcely spppk—that he was not going to bret.k his pledge.