FIRE IN A HOTEL

Taranaki Daily News, 15 November 1926, Page 12

FIRE IN A HOTEL

SIX ROOMS GUTTED. OUTBREAK AT PALMERSTON. By Telegraph.—Press Association. Palmerston N., Nov. 12. A fire broke out at an early hour this morning in the upper floor of the Post Office Hotel, an old wooden structure in the centre of the town, six upstairs rooms being gutted before the brigade arrested the progress of the flames. A boarder woke up to find his room on fire. The efforts of the licensee to quell the outbreak were unsuccessful and an attempt to communicate with the brigade by the automatic telephone was frustrated by the failure to get the dialling bone on the instrument. Meantime automatic alarm box in the Square was operated by a policeman. The fire had a good hold when the brigade arrived, and the flames spread quickly by way of the ceiling from room to room. A number of boarders escaped in night attire, all their personal effects being destroyed. A man sleeping in a room close to the origin of the fire was somewhat burned about the neck when making his exit by the fire escape. Beyond the rooms mentioned no great structural damage was done, although the heat blistered the furniture and smoke and water affected the contents of other rooms. The insurances on the Post Office Hotel were: Building £2OOO, furniture £7OO, stock £350. The structural damage is estimated in the region of . £lOOO. A large amount of furniture was rendered worthless, but the stock was untouched.