BLAZE IN WHITE HOUSE

Sun (Auckland), Volume III, Issue 855, 26 December 1929, Page 9

BLAZE IN WHITE HOUSE

PRESIDENT WATCHES FIRE DESTROY OFFICES IMPORTANT RECORDS LOST WASHINGTON, Tuesday.

Fire destroyed the recently remodelled executive offices of President Hoover, ill White House, this evening.

The President watched the fire from the roof of a low wing of the building. The outbreak is believed to have been caused by a short-circuited electric wire. It occurred while the President and Mrs. Hoover were entertaining the children of the secretaries. Half an hour after the fire began dense clouds of smoke were still pouring from the structure. The entire building, including the President’s office, was thoroughly soaked with streams of water poured on to the flames. v Two secretaries dashed into President Hoover’s office through the dense smoke and saved all his papers and personal belongings. It is believed, however, that some important records were destroyed. Wednesday. The Hoover family gathered at their private Christmas tree on the second floor of the White Houpe early today, declining to permit the Christmas celebration to be perturbed by last night’s fire. President Hoover will establish temporary headquarters elsewhere, while the ravaged wing is being remodelled, possibly using his private study in the White House, meanwhile quartering his staff in the State Department across the street.