DESTRUCTIVE FIRE IN AUCKLAND.

Waikato Times, Volume XXVIII, Issue 2284, 1 March 1887, Page 2

DESTRUCTIVE FIRE IN AUCKLAND.

On Sunday nipht about half-past seven the tire bells in the .suburbs rang out an alarm and it was at once seen by the glare that the tire whs in the Eden Terrace district. It proved however to be in Sussex street. The tire began at the residence of.a man named Patrick Brady, in the centre of a block, and spread both ways. Captain Field was in hopes of saving the upper house, the property of Hawkes, but soon as the water supply in the tank ."was exhausted the effort had to be abandoned. Fortunately a gap existed between the house aud Hawkes' private residence, and the latter was saved by keeping blankets wet upon the roofing and sides. Captain Field then turned his attention to the lower end of the block, whero house after house was falling a prey to the flames. Six had now gone, and he made a determined effort to save the seventh, Attwood's, which had a corrugated iron roof, which gave'it a chance of escape; meanwhile the people in the houses below were taking out their furniture, and at Wilcox's, immediately adjacent, a number of men hacked down the verandah and took out the windows, tills stopped in the work of devastation by Captain Field. He got a hand-pump into Attwood's house, the water supply being kept up by a bucket gang of the neighbours, who worked very zealously, and cutting a hole in the ceiling, succeeding in suppressing the fire in the roofing, and subsequently in the end of the house," though not till the side had been thoroughly charred. Considering that the apparatus of the Salvage Corps is merely for salvage purposes, thecorps acted splendidly. It is scarcely reasonable, with their equipment, to expect them to fulfil the duties of a fire brigade. As "to the origin of the fire nothing is known. Mrs Brady and the children left the house at half-past six to'attend S. Benedict's; Mr Brady did not accompany them, but went out to chat with Messrs Louder and Morrison, across the street. It was while so talking that their attention was arrested by some boys shouting " Fire !" and on looking round they saw Brady's house on fire. Brady ran down to the place and got out a sewing machine, but little else. There was a little tire left in the kitchen fireplace after making the tea, but that was all. Mr Brady could offer no theory or explanation as to how the fire had arisen. It appears that the place had a narrow escape a fortnight ago, through some clothes catching fire while airing before the tire. Before the fire could be got under six houses were burned down. The Insurance Companies loss is about £1300.