DISASTROUS FIRE

Wairarapa Times-Age, 29 March 1939, Page 5

DISASTROUS FIRE

IN CENTRE OF WELLINGTON Big Business Building Gutted ANOTHER BADLY DAMAGED LOSS ESTIMATED AT OVER £lOO,OOO (By Telegraph.---Press Association.) WELLINGTON, This Day, A disastrous fire in the centre of Wellington last night gutted Victoria House, a building of seven stories in Victoria Street, and the top floor of Hallenstein Brothers’ three-story building in Willis Street. It was probably the worst city fire since the Lambton Quay blaze in 1906. The damage is expected to exceed £lOO,OOO. The 16 tenants of Victoria House, chiefly manufacturers agents and importers, lost everything. In Hallenstein Brothers’ building extensive damage was done by water and smoke as well as by fire. Damage was also done in adjoining Willis Street buildings, though occupiers hastily removed as much of their stock as they could. The outbreak was discovered by a woman in the lift-well of Victoria Houfee at 6.50 p.m. Flames swept quickly through the building, which had brick walls and a wooden exterior. By the time the brigade arrived they were breaking through the roof. By 8.45 p.m. the interior of Victoria House was a raging infeino. Blazing embers, an inch or more in diameter, filled the air, showering the dense crowds in the streets ana threatening to set fire to buildings hundreds of yards away. Loud explosions from the centre of the blaze sent spectators scuttling for shelter. The brigaaesmen fought on gallantly, though at one time it seemed that the front wall of Victoria House would collapse in the street where they were working. Fanned by a breeze the flames swept through to Hallenstein Brothers'’ building in Willis Street, directly at the rear of Victoria House. ' Firemen were forced to turn their attention to preventing the spread of the conflagration. By 9.30 p.m. the brigade had the outbreak under control. Flames were dying down, but dense clouds' of smoke were still pouring from the blackened ruins.

SEVERAL MINOR OUTBREAKS.

From the fire were hurled cascades of sparks and flaming brands, which provided a spectacular display, fraught with peril to the crowd in the streets and a constant menace to buildings over a wide area. Flaming fragments were driven fully a mile, pouring down on the upturned faces, making a crimson carpet on the adjacent streets, and thickly mantling roofs of nearby buildings. , , . Several incipient outbreaks occurred. These were extinguished by regular firemen detailed to watch outlying points, and by volunteer workers Though containing all the elements of danger, fortunately these fires were ex tiuguished before they could obtain a firm hold. Soon after the main outbreak sparks flung outward and upward from Victoria House began to fall in a dense shower on buildings in the immediate vicinity. The tallest directly in the path of the sparks, and not less than 100 yards away, was “The Dominion” building. Material on the roof took fire, but the flames were put out by the staff. Another outbreak occurred on the roof of the Majestic Theatre in Willis Street, 309 yards away from the seat of the fire. It, too, was put out. • A further incipient outbreak occurred on the roof of Gates’s restaurant opposite the Majestic Theatre. It was also deal, with by volunteers. The most serious outbreak of this nature was in Manners Street, a quarter of a mile from Victoria House, and it kept several men fully occupied fo 20 minutes coping with the flames which at one stage promised to become serious. Near the Y.M.C.A. building in Upper Willis Street the hood of a parked motor-car took fire. There were several other minor incipient outbreaks. Last night's fire exceeded only as a spectacle in recent years in Wellington by the Social Security blaze seven weeks ago, drew vast crowds of spectators to the city. Thousands more watched it from the many vantage points on the surrounding hills.

HOTEL IN DANGER. The Hotel Windsor was seriously threatened about 9 o’clock, the timber beneath the roof catching fire. Rooms were hurriedly evacuated by guests, and some persons had not returned at a late hour last night. Several rooms were made uninhabitable through the ceiling being chopped away by firefighters. Water also caused considerable damage. There was great danger to the extensive roof area of Duthic’s Building, which extends from Willis Street into Victoria Street. It formed a natural catchment area for the low-flying sparks and heavy embers. The heat generated from the closely-matted sparks threatened to frustrate the efforts of the brigade to localise the outbreak. The brigade brought .its high extension ladder into operation in Willis Street, a fireman being stationed at the top of it to direct a constant stream of water on to Duthie’s roof. By 10 o’clock the fire was under control, but it was st.il smouldering at midnight. . . That only two firemen were injured,, both slightly, was a tribute to the skill with which the blaze was fought, as danger faced the fire-fighters on all sides. ATTEMPTS AT PILFERING. At the height of the fire several attempts at pilfering goods from the shops which were being evacuated were made. A jeweller in the block next to the Empire Hotel, Mr E. A. Cattin, was stacking his goods on the pavement when a man began to help himself. Two others acted likewise, but the efforts of the three were frustrated by a constable, who clamped handcuffs on them and led them away. There was suggestion of further pilfering in the appearance of a man in a hotel foyer carrying a large silver cup. It was taken from him by the hotel proprietor. 1

As a whole bystanders showed great willingness to help in the salvage of stock from the shops, and very quickly this was transferred to safety in premises across the street.