FATAL FIRE IN AUCKLAND

Rotorua Morning Post, Volume 1, Issue 93, 10 December 1931, Page 5

FATAL FIRE IN AUCKLAND

(Press. Assn

large store gutted POWER LINESMAN DIES AFTER FALL FROM POLE CAUSED BY SHOCK DAMAGE NEARLY £30,000

.— By Telegraph— Copyright) .

• • AUCKLAND, last night. The large grading store of Lichtenstein and Paykel, Ltd., exporters, ;on ,the , Great . S.outh Road, adjoining. the Penrose overhead , railway bridge, was completely destroyed by fire early tonight. . . .... The stock, consisting of kauri gum, skins, . hides, and. pelts, valued at about £21,000 and the plant .valued at about. £1,000 .were a total loss. The building itseif was- valued at £7,000. The fire also resulted in the loss of one life. v ' . fhe building . was a one-storied one of wood and cprrugated iron, covering an _area of 30,000 square feet. Flames had kprqad. almost throughout the building by the tinie the fire brigade arrived, only a ; few minutes after they had received the alarm. , The position from the start was a hopeless one, and the first. move by the firemen was to run a lead of hose to the works of the Australian Glass Manufacturing Co., Ltd., nearby. The side of the burning building facing the glass works soon colla'psed wards, to be followed a little later by the wall on the Great South Road side. Fortunately the wind was blowing from the west, carrying the sparlcs away from the glass works, and across the large vacant space bptween the store and the Penrose substation. ,The heat.was terrific, a hose having to be played on the glass works for a considerablp time before the building, although it is of corrugated iron, was completely out of danger. Tangled Mass of Wreckage In a remarkahly short space of time the store was reduced to a tangled mass of burning wreckage. Kauri gum spread over a. large portion of the building on the Great South Road side for grading purposes burned fiercely and the firemen could do little more than play their hoses on the power poles. , The cause of the fire is unknown. Twelve men were employed, it being practically the busiest time in the year at the' store. The men finished work at about 5.45 p.m. and left about a quarter of an hour later. There were no fires, or furnaces in the building. , The fire was a most spectacular one, the light from the flames being visible for miles. A crowd of at least 5000 people quickly gathered to watch the canflagration, completeiy ' blocking traffic on the Great South Road. An employee of the Auckland Electric Power Board, Mr. Thomas Whitford Knox, received fatal injuries duripg efforts by the board's staff to cut off the power in the vicinity of the fire. Knox, who was a married man, 31 years of age, residing at Epsom, was working with a companion linesman on a transformer standard outside the Penrose Post Office, when he received a shock as he was cutting out the switch. The shock caused Knox to topple from the platform and he fell to the ground, head first. He was removed to the Auckland Hospital in an unconscious condition suffering from a fraetured skull and he died within two hours of admission. Knox leaves two young children, both under five years of age. Mr. Paykel stated that although the building, plant and stock were insured, the loss would be heavy.