FIRE IN HAMILTON

Rotorua Morning Post, Volume 2, Issue 578, 8 July 1933, Page 5

FIRE IN HAMILTON

(Press Assn.-

AN UPSET OF FLAMING OIL CAUSES SERIQUS OUTBREAK PREMISES COMPLETELY GUTTED

-By Telegraph — Copyright).

Hamilton, Friday. A garage and tyre shop occupied by Messrs H. P. Aitken and J. Snooks, in Commerce Street were completely gutted hy fire this morning. Two motor cars and a considerahle quantity of tools, tyres and motor aceessories were destroyed in the flames. Mr. Snooks, who attends to the mechanical side of the business, was repairing a car and placed a kerosene tin containing some engine-oil on a gas-ring to heat. Suddenly th'e oil ignited. Mr. Snooks immediately secured a sack in an effort to smother the fire hut the flames leapt through the material. The tin upset and a stream of hlazing oil ran over the floor. In a few seconds the entire workshop was ablaze. Huge columns of thick, hlack smoke rose and could he seen miles away. When the Hamilton Fire Brigade arrived on the scene ahout 10.15 a.m., after a fast trip from the station, ths whole huilding, an old wooden one, was a mass of flames. It is understood that none of the contents was insured. The huilding, which was owned hy Mr. Thomas Moffatt, of Tauranga, was insured for £200.