FIRE.

Stratford Evening Post, Volume XXXIV, Issue 75, 21 November 1912, Page 5

FIRE.

SIGNAL BOX ON BRIDGE DESTROYED.

The signal-box and the signalling apparatus on the Kioreroa bridge were totally destroyed by fire at 7.30 o’clock on Thursday evening (says the Whangarei ‘Mail’). An engine was at one? put into service, and with a brigade cf men with buckets, the scene of the fire was soon reached. A quantity of benzine was stored in the box, and the whole place burned fiercely, the conflagration illuminating the sky for miles around. The fire had a good hold, and the men’s attention was chiefly engaged in preventing it from spreading to the wood-work of the bridge. The signal box was completely gutted, and it was first thought that the bridge would be put out of service. It was afterwards found that the interlocking signalling system, which contains most intricate and expensive mechanism, was seriously damaged. Die signals, however, can be worked separately, though, of course, this wi.l entail'nincli additional work. The s.s. Kanieri, which approached the bridge, was sent back to Onerabi, it being thought that the span could not be' lifted. The lifting apparatus was, however, unharmed. The early train to Onerahi passed over the bridge safely this morning, and the Kanieri passed through the span at nine o’clock. The signalman left off duty at 6.30 p.m. on Thursday/ and everything appeared safe and secure. The origin of the fire is a mystery. The loss sustained is as yet unknown, owing to the difficulty of estimating the cost of the damage to the signalling apparatus. - .