BURNT TO DEATH

Wairarapa Times-Age, 29 June 1940, Page 4

BURNT TO DEATH

FATE OF TWO WOMEN IN FIRE AT SUMNER. (By Telegraph—Press Association.) CHRISTCHURCH. June 28. Two elderly women were burnt to death when a fire which broke out at 4.30 p.m. today completely destroyed a one-storied galvanised iron house lined with wood, situated in a right-of-way leading off Morten Street, between Grafton Street and the Esplanade, Sumner. They were: — Mrs Florence Blackley, aged 78. Miss Gertrude McLachlan, aged SG. The cause of the outbreak, which was very sudden, is unknown. The Sumner Fire Brigade arrived two minutes after it was summoned, but the house was a raging furnace, burning fiercely from end to end, the galvanised iron keeping the heat in. There was plenty of water with which to fight the fire, and two leads were used, but the brigade’s efforts were unavailing, and after about an hour the house had been burnt to the ground. Though the house was fairly close to other buildings, no damage was done to these.

When the brigade arrived neighbours informed them that the two women were in the house, and several attempts at rescue were made without success. Mrs Blackley and Miss McLachlan were apparently living alone in the house, the former being an invalid and the latter keeping house. Mrs Blackley was the widow of Mr Robert Blackley, who formerly managed Castle Hill Station, beyond Springfield, and the Hawkswood Station, between Cass and Springfield. An inquest will be opened at 2.30 p.m. tomorrow.