FIRE.

Wairarapa Daily Times, Volume IX, Issue 2536, 28 February 1887, Page 2

FIRE.

■Yesterday morning, about 2.80, the residence of Mr T.■Wrigley, Miriam Street, was destroyed by fire, the family having a very narrow escape from being burned jn tyejr beds. The first .intimation of the 'disaster was received by Mr T. Wrigley, who awoke and saw the reflection of the fire through the. joints "q£ the ceiling boards' in the front bedi'ooorr}, it being some seconds before he could realise, the pause of the phenomena. The next intimation ;was through the agency of Mr H, Fogden, who was on a visit to Masterton, and was sleeping In the back room, and who on being awakened by the suffocating smoke, rushed through the passago to the front of the house. Having : got the three children on to the verandah, Mr and Mrs Wrigley and Mr Fogden immediately alarmed the neighbors, who quickly responded, and as the fire appeared to be confined to the upper portion of the back part of the house, they set to work and got out most of tho furniture from the front rooms, with the' usual damaging result of hasty removal,.; sA piano, was saved with great ; : difficulty the fire having reached the'room from whicint,\fos taken, when-Mr- Eitton, single' hajjdejl, rai jn a] the -front door where assistance was soon obtained to oarry it to'a.place of safety.' The' two fire brigades' were promptly on the spot, the Municipal leading the r way, but choosing th'e trap furthest from

the fire they gave the Volunteers the opportunity of the best supply near the sluice gate, Who were thus able to get the first jet on. The Volunteer brigade stuck manfully to the work, and although their engine got blistered with the heat, they did not relinquish pumping. By the combined efforts of the brigades the frame work of. the building was left standing, a fact that speaks well for our firemen, and shows thatwhentheyhave plenty; of. wser>' kndy.;they:are able'to 1 do good ifork; Mr who liyis ojf the'firey-dropped the sliu'ce'rgatsYat the firat'tilarm," trad let. the. water, from" the gasworks dam down- the creek, which enabled the brigades to commence work straight away. During the excitement of throwing the furniture about a chair struck Mrs Wrigley on the top of the head, inflicting a nasty gash. The house which was a substantially built one, and;, finished off in good style, had five rooms and a leanto, there being a bathroom in the latter part of the building. As, nothing was savod out of any but the, two front rooms, it will.be seon that Mr Wrigley has lost nearly everything he possessed, the wholo of tho children's apparel being destroyed. . The origin of the fire oan only bo cpnjeotured, the. most likely onoibeingthat a spark frpm a stovepipe through tho leanto roof got under the Bhingloa of the main roof, and caught Bonie of the inflammablo accumulation,'for when the fire was discovered it was burning principally there.' The building was insured in the New Zealand Jor J6250,. and the furniture in tho South British effice for £l5O. The piano, had a Beparate insurance on it. It is due to our. nightwatchman (Mr E. Braggins) to state that he promptly rung the fire bell on perceiving the fire, and was the first to give the alarm oivthe occasion of the fire at Mr A. G. Smith's house' in Church-stroat last week.. ..._,.

Mr Wrigley returns thanks in another column to those who bo kindly assisted in saving his property during the fire, -