1ZB's NARROW ESCAPE

New Zealand Listener, Volume 5, Issue 114, 29 August 1941, Page 10

1ZB's NARROW ESCAPE

Within Twenty Feet Of Auckland's Big Fire ITH its studios only twenty feet away from Auckland’s fiercest fire in 30 years, 1ZB was lucky to escape without damage on Tuesday of last week-the third occasion on which a ZB station has been involved in a fire incident in the relatively short life of the Service. It will be recalled that in May, 1938, 3ZB was burned out and, again, in September, 1939, the top three floors of the Hope Gibbons building in Wellington were gutted and it was touch-and-go whether 2ZB, whose premises are in the same building, would suffer the same fate. On Tuesday last, 1ZB had a similarly close shave. Heat-starred windows in the east wing, where the studios are situated, bear witness to the fierceness of the flames which roared up from the premises of John Burns Ltd. just across a narrow lane, and when at one stage of the fire it was learned that a quantity of explosives were stored in the cellar of the burning building that wing of the station had to be vacated speedily. Recordings Evacuated Despite the danger, the staff immediately formed a chain from the pro- gramme department (overlooking the lane) to the front of the premises and 8000 valuable recordings and 300 transcriptions were passed hand-to-hand to safety in a matter of twenty-five minutes, and all papers essential to the maintenance of the programme on the air were removed. A car was then commandeered and an announcer with a bundle of transcriptions was raced to the 1ZB transmitter at Waterview and the transmission of the programme taken up from there. The only effect the temporary evacuation had on broadcasting was that for a couple of hours the programme ran eight minutes late!