A GREAT FIRE.

Wairarapa Age, Volume XXXII, Issue 9710, 4 February 1910, Page 4

A GREAT FIRE.

The old saying that great events from little causes spring was tragically illustrated by the fire at Messrs Arding and Honbs' shop in London on December 20th. This dreadful disaster was caused by a shop assistant knocking over an umbrella in a window. The umbrella broke an electric light globe, r and it id supposed that the glowing filament set fire to one of the celluloid articles in the window. In a moment the shop was on fire. The flames spread with extraordinary rapidity through the building, leaping from department to department and licking up the Christmas decorations and light inflammable goods exposed for sale. One wit- ' ness described the outbreak as "just as if the place had been drenched with tar and set blazing at a dozen points at once," and another said "it was as if you folded up a newspaper, sprinkled it with paraffin, and set a match to it." Heroism and coolness kept the death-roll to the minimum. The shopwalkers went about quietly among the crowd of customers, telling them that a fire had broken out, and piloting them to the rear of the shop. Magnificent was the heroism of the cook who prepared the staff's meals. After warnng a , '.umber of assistants at considerable 11

risk, he dashed up a burning staircase, and found two women calling for help at a window. By the time a fire-escape arrived the room had caught, and the heat was so intense that windows on the other side of the road were cracking. The cook put one woman on to the escape, and she got down safely. He put the second on, but the ladder caught fire, and the woman fell and was fatally injured. The rescuer then threw up his arms and disappeared, and a little later the watchers heard the floor collapse.