SERIOUS FIRE AT TIMARU.

Wairarapa Age, Volume XXXI, Issue 3049, 20 November 1908, Page 5

SERIOUS FIRE AT TIMARU.

__ SAWMILL DESTROYED. _ By Telegraph —Press Association. TIMARU, November 19. J. Jackson and Company's timber sawmill, the largest in Timaru, was almost completely destroyed by fire this morning. Several people who passed the mill, which is on the main street, between 5 and 5.30 noticed no signs of fire, but about 5.30 a railway man passing on his way to work, noticed smoke issuing from the central portion of the building, which is of two-stories, mainly of brick and iron, with a considerable area of wooden walls and flooring. Within was a heavy «tock of timber in various stages of manufacture. A few minutes after the alarm was given tremendous volumes of smoke and flames burst out in every part of the mill, ard within a quarter of an hour the entire structure was a seething furnace. By six o'clock the roof and upper walls had fallen in, and so fierce had the fire been that very little remained. Up till this point a dead calm prevailed, and when a strong southerly breeze sprang up the fire was so far expended that no difficulty was experienced in preventing it from spreading beyond the mill. Stacks of timber all round the main building were unharmed, and the stock of machinery of the wheelwright and bending department was very little damaged. The greatest precautions have always been exercised for the prevention of fire, and it seems most probable that the outbreak originated in the engine room. The business was purchased by the present owners a quarter of a century ago, and extended during that period into one of the most flourishing in the district. The extent of the destruction is estimated at £6,000. There is an insurance in the Commercial Union of £2,000. The destruction of the central factory means the disorganisation of the whole business, but preparations have been commenced for the immediate resumption of work.