SYDNEY FIRE

Wairarapa Times-Age, 13 October 1939, Page 7

SYDNEY FIRE

FIREMEN EFFECT GALLANT RESCUES. SEVEN PEOPLE TRAPPED BY 'flames. Seven persons trapped by a city fire in Sydney on September 26 were rescued by firemen by means of extension ladders. It is believed that all those trapped would have lost their lives if the firemen had not acted so promptly and courageously. Mr Ernest Thurlow, an artist, was hanging by one hand from a window sill, nearly 100 ft above street level, when he was rescued. Men shouted to him to keep his grip, and women fainted as firemen climbed a ladder to rescue him. The fire broke out at about 6.30 p.m. in the premises of Miss Bishop’s, Limited, caterer, in the Crystal Palace Arcade building. Firemen believe that some electrical defect under a staircase started the fire, and that the inflammable material of the building burst into flame. Flames from the arcade building swept across the Century Theatre, next door. About 1000 persons were in the theatre, watching the screening of a film. Mr Roger Best, manager of the theatre, ran downstairs shouting. "The theatre is on fire, I am warning you to escape." Most of the audience did not seem to appreciate the seriousness of the warning, and it was only after several more warnings that they began to leave. The damage to the theatre was slight. Mr Thurlow, who conducts an art school, was awaiting his pupils on the third floor of the Crystal Palace Arcade Building when he saw smoke pouring into the premises. “My pupils were not expected for about half an hour,” he said, “and I was making myself a cup of tea. Then I noticed the pouring underneath the doors and heard the crash of falling glass as the windows burst before the heat of the flames. I tried to escape by the front door, but a solid wall of flame and dense volumes of smoke barred my way. I ran to the window, but could not breathe. The heat and fumes forced me to hang out of the window. Then I lost consciousness as 1 was rescued.”

At the fire headquarters the alarm was received with apprehension, as the area is one of the. most dangerous in the city. Within two minutes, two high extension ladders had been rush'd to the scene. When they arrived, Mr Thurlow was holding by one hand to a window sill. A sub-station officer, Mr Hugh Hunter, risked his life when he ran up the partly extended ladder, and seized Mr Thurlow is he lost his grip on the window sill.

Another man leaned out of a winlow calling for help. Firemen ran out a ladder and carried him to safety. On the other side of the Crystal Palace Arcade, five persons were .vorking in the premises of Hoyts rhealres. Limited. They tried to es-,-ape by a back door, but the (lames ind smoke drove them back. The five were trapped in a little office. The smoke was so bad that they had '.o hang out of a window to get air. They heard cheers when firemen ran .ip ladders and rescued two men from i.he front of the building. "We thought that we were neglected,” said one of them, “but within two minutes there were five fire ladders in the narrow lane below us and in George Street. Firemen risked their lives, running up the swaying ladders t< rescue us.”