SALONIKA.

Taihape Daily Times, 29 October 1917, Page 6

SALONIKA.

TRAGIC SCENES IN THE BLAZING CITY. SALONIKA, August 21. The old city of Salonika which during its 2000 years of existence has seldom abstained long from making history, lias now added another moving chapter to its long talc of war and catastrophe in the shape of, a most destructive firs which broke cut early oil Saturday, and is still, here and there, continuing although the worst is over. One point should be made at once—namely, that, as far as is at present known, no single British life has been [ lo3t, nor- have I heard of any loss j among the Allied armies. There is also a remarkable coincidence; the fire at Salonika broke out on Saturday, and on Friday Monastir was bombarded by incendiary shells, 2000 of them falling in six hours, so that a thousand private houses were destroyed and the town had to be completely evacuated. The fire here seems to have started in several places at once, and it was remarkable during its .early stages, when nobody dreamed that the whole of the commercial quarter and the centre of the city was within a few hours to be wiped out. that the fire was no sooner being tackled in one quarter than it broke out in another, until a stage was reached when the poor resources of the city added to the weather conditions, which were ideal to spread a fire, made a disaster on a large scale inevitable. SO,COO HOMELESS. Some 4200 houses and business premises, including all the hotels, and practically every important commercial buildings in the city, have been destroyed, and the number of homeless people is at present estimated at between 80,000 and 100,000. Attention was first attracted to the fire about 4 o 'clock on Saturday afternoon. At that time the city, except for the immediate neighbourhood of the fire, was quite undisturbed by the' event. This same attitude in varying degrees marked the whole )progress of the fire, until the moment when it was burning down to the edege of the sea on a mile of water front, presenting a spectacle that was as grand as it was lamentable. In hotels people were still dining at ten o'clock. A little later they were in the street with whatever belongings could be snatched up. and were wondering where their ■ next lodging for the night would be. By now it was clear that the fire was becoming a danger to the whole native quarter quarter of the city north of the famous Bue Egnatia. The houses in all this quarter of the city which stretches away up the hill to the old rampants, may be described as mere combustible material. They r.re old and and full of wood, and the fire raged along them with incredible speed. To combat the fire in this quarter there were a few ancient boxes misnamed fire-engines worked by handles. One of them was marked, "Sun Fire Office, 1710." and it must certainly have been the original model. GBIEF AND WAILING. There were many pitiable scenes, but there was never any real frantic panic, only grief and wailing, and, later in the night, when it seemed that all Salonika had gone, this was succeeded by a general apathy in which nobody seemed to care about anything about midnight. Everybody had realised that the whole sea-front was doomed, and then the flames executed a quick flank movement just short of the White Tower, so that the only exit from the town was towards the Monastir road. Long before this time better methods had got to work; hoses were run from the Navy lighters near the quay ■wall, and the British Army did good work with two modern fire engines, but it was merely like shaking one's fist at the fire.| 'At this time it seemed as th&ugh. the sea would be the only escape for great numbers of the multitude. Here again the Navy, came into service. All the lighters possible were run into the quay wall, and crowds and baggage were conducted or carried on board, it being often a case of old folks as well as children in arms. By the time the front was blazing In one great cliff of orange and white light, practically all the people had been got out of harm's way. Venizelos street was an arcade of flame, with shops crashing down, and clouds of fire shooting up. On the front the new Hotel Splendide was a melancholy glory of flame and ruin, with its spacious new restaurants and tea-room gone after a few months of life.