EARLY MORNING BLAZE

Wairarapa Times-Age, 2 August 1938, Page 4

EARLY MORNING BLAZE

BUILDINGS DESTROYED IN MOTUEKA POST OFFICE & BUSINESS ESTABLISHMENTS. SOME NEIGHBOURING STRUCTURES SAVED. (By Telegraph—Press Association). MOTUEKA, This Day. A disastrous fire occurred at Motueka in the early hours of this morning, completely destroying the Post Office Hotel, Freeman’s drapery shop, Manoy’s departmental store and the Post and Telegraph Office. Clouds of smoke were first noticed pouring through a window of the lounge of the hotel. All the occupants were quickly roused and left the building in their night attire. Meanwhile, the flames spread rapidly through the large wooden building, fanned by a south-westerly wind. The flames cut across the street and ignited the electric power mains, plunging most of the town in darknes. The intense heat began to scorch the verandahs of the shops of J. Fraser, barber, and the Motueka Fish Supply Company, but a bucket brigade managed to save these. The brigade, realising that it was too late to save Freeman’s store and the Post Office next door, endeavoured to save Manoy’s store, opposite the hotel in Pah Street, but were unsuccessful. The building caught fire from the fiercely burning hotel and soon was a mass of flames.