FIRE SPECTACLE

Taranaki Central Press, Volume IV, Issue 319, 29 December 1936, Page 6

FIRE SPECTACLE

Tube Railway Ablaze In Germany. Press Association —Copyright. Berlin, December 27. A thrilling holiday spectacle was provided when in the presence of an enormous crowd which was held back by the police and under the eyes of three Ministers, Dr. Goebbels, Herr Goering and Dr. Frick. Nineteen fire brigades, directed by' loud-speakers, fought a huge underground fire discovered at 5 p.nij. in the tunnel of the tube railway being constructed between Potsdamerplatz and Branden burgerftor. The fire was near the scene of last year’s collapse when 19 workmen were killed. The brigades gained control after five hours, averting the danger of an explosion of stored oxygen acetylene cylinders. There were no labourers below owing to it being Christmas time. The watchmen escaped in the nick of time. Firemen tore up the pavement and inserted hoses, using gas masks and oxygen apparatus to face the dense smoke which forbade entry. Potsdamerplatz was enveloped so densely in smoke that searchlights could not penetrate it.