Lift Crashes

Sun (Auckland), Volume 1, Issue 105, 25 July 1927, Page 1

Lift Crashes

FIREMEN’S NARROW ESCAPE JUMP CLEAR JUST IN TIME (Special to THE SUN.) WELLINGTON, To-day. TWO firemen had a miraculous A escape from sudden death during a fire which did several thousands of pounds worth of damage to a building in Willis Street, in the early hours yesterday morning. They were working in the lift well, the lift being then at the third floor. Suddenly they saw a blinding flash, indicative of a fused electrical switch. They jumped clear just in time to be missed by the heavy lift as it crashed dowji from the top to the bottom of the well. The building is at the end of a blind avenue. It was a brick three-storey struc’ 1 ~e, the first floor being occupied by Stokes’s Sign Service, the second by Fluenzol Proprietary, Ltd., and Harringtons, all of whom lost heavily, sign-writing gear, material, Fluenzol and other preparations, and wireless apparatus and supplies being destroyed. The building was owned by lS|r. H. D. Bennett, also the one adjoining, which was occupied by Miss Phyliss Bates, and the Wellington Pleating Company, this was damaged by fire and water. The fire had a strong hold when the brigade arrived. It made a spectacular picture with the flames and dense smoke pouring from the windows and through the roof cf the main building. The brigade concentrated its attention in saving the neighbouring premises, which they succeeded in doing. The insurances include £4OO on the Fluenzol stock, in the Northern Office, and £2,000 on Harringtons, in the Liverpool, London and Globe.