THE AUCKLAND FIRE.

Gisborne Times, Volume XXVII, Issue 2583, 18 August 1909, Page 7

THE AUCKLAND FIRE.

BURNING OF THE STRAND 'ARCADE.

(Per Press Association.) AUCKLAND, /Aug. 17. Within less than fifteen minutes of ■ the discovery of the outbreak the whole of the Queen Street frontage of the - Strand Arcade was one great roaring umass of intermingled flame and smoke. The interior of the fine building, parv ticularly on the Albert Hotel side, was an awful. inferno, shooting up gigantic columns of flame. At 8 o’clock the fire penetrated further into the recesses of the building. • A series of explosions from igniting gas meters occurred, following in quick . succession. Detatchmentg of firemen meanwhile had been sent to fight the flames from the Elliot Street frontage, also .from the rear of the .Thistle .Hotel, in Derby Street. Crowds of people • cheered as they ■ got a dozen or -more'leads of hose to . work. As in the-Queen Street frontage, however, the streams of water had little or no effect • upon: the burning building, which was-now a mass of flames from end to end, and all the firemen could • do was to prevent it spreading to the neighboring buildings. BRAVERY OF THE FIREMEN. The attention of the great crowd, ■ which extended up and down Queen Street, was then riveted upon a certain half dozen firemen, who, mounting the ' fire escape of the Thistle Hotel/ crept « out on to the parapet of the Queen Street frontage of the doomed building, and got two more jets of water into play. Their achievement was greeted with well-merited cheers-. The _ brave ' fellows kept their the midst of : flame and smoke, and kept the jets of water on until the upper portion of the la-ce of the building showed marked ■ signs of tilting over, and they were ■ordered back lest ■ they should be engulfed in the huge mass of falling ' Tricks and masonry - lt was also deemed necessary to with- - -draw (the telescopic ladder for thle same reason. Thus the flames continued to hold the mastery. At 8.25 a terrific explosion, probably : -from a large gas meter, occurred- on the Thistle Hotel side of the building. Ten minutes after it was followed by another and even greater _ one, which sent up an enormous mountain of lurid flames, and blew out the northern wall, sending it crashing with an enormoiis roar through the Thistle Hotel. By this time the fire had reached its height. The work of the. brigade had been never-tiring and heroic, but it was not until the fire had practically exhausted. the- fuel upon which it had been feeding, that a material change for the better was observed. THE EIRE UNDER CONTROL. Getting on the Toofs of the adjoining buildings, the firemen poured stream upon stream of water* into the roaring • furnace. little by little the water began to have its effect. The flames, which up until then had been mountains high in the air, aud had enveloped both frontages, got lower and lower. Within another 20 minutes the flames were confined to the interior of the ‘ building. • As the fiTe retreated, so the firemen advanced, making use of every point of vantage. - By ten o’clock the firemen were able - to enter the Arcade itself, and get to work from the parapets of the Queen Street frontage again. This was .hot now .attended with such eminent danas at ‘th.o firo. Xu “fcliG Arcs.u.c ilgsli the firemen entered in the peril of their lives, as they soon discovered. A number of them were working gal- • lantly with three leads, opposite the . scene of the original outbreak, when, without warning, an immense mass of debris came down almost on top of 1 them. ’ Fortunately none of them were hurt, though several had narrow escapes. It was then deemed advisib-le to withdraw the men, and the attack was continued from the Queen Street face. At about 10.30 the fire was well under control, and a quarter of an hour later appeared quite out, but water was - still poured on. The northern wall was showing signs of instability at this stage, a huge crack appearing m the front face of the building from the - parapet down. . The police and volunteers took extra precautions to prevent accidents, and kept the crowd out of line of the wall. A SECOND OUTBREAK. The fire in Strand Arcade broke out with renewed vigor at 11 p.m. - A heavy fall of masonry completely closed the passage of the Arcade. A deluge of water was poured m, and soon left the Arcade a mass of blackenmorning nothing but the bare walls remain. The- fire was responsible for numerous accidents, which, in two cases, required treatment at the hospital. Thos. McPherson, who, at an early stace of the fire, rescued a man from a perilous position by pulling him on to an adjoining roof at great personal risk, ' ‘at a later stage, while assisting the Eire Brigade, had to jump with a tailing wall. He was earned out of the debris, burned and bleeding, and re-, moveef to the hospital. His conduct is described as heroic, but he had the satisfaction of saving one man s life. Hurt O’Sullivan, who was also as . sisting the brigade, was also removed to the hospital with an injured knee, .• and slight abrasions of the head.

THE TENANTS

So far as is known the following is a : list of tenants in the Strand Arcade:— —First; Storey.— Strand Cafe (W. and A. Prior man- . ngers); David Palmer, tailor; Strand Book Arcade (booksellers, stationers, . leather and fancy goods warehousemen) ; Miss FI Teutenberg, art needle worker; Mrs J. S. Arthur, regis ry office; P. M. Dewer, medical specialist; '■ Odorless Sanitary Cabinet Co.; F. Dyer and Co., ladies’ tailors; British and Continental Piano Co. (A Hegman, i manager); Misses Waugh and Walker, milliners; Geo. Gregory, photographer; Mrs. Binns, toilet rooms; P. B. Hume, hairdresser; E. O. Von Sturmer, eyesight specialist; Launtz Hennksen, ■ watchmaker; Post and Telegraph Of--1 fice; Lethaby, umbrella importer and repairer; —Second Storey.— • Campbell, Ehrenfried'and Co., brew- .. ers, Tvino and sjurit merchants, etc.; Leonard and Harrison, manufacturers agents, etc.; H. Bunting, indent agent; Piccadilly Tea Booms; Mrs Darby, registry office. —Third Storey. — E. J Gavey, manufacturers’ agent; Henry Bull and Co., Ltd., importers and warehousemen (represented by Frank Marsden)-; Patterson, Laing and Bruce Proprietary, Ltd., warehousemen and manufacturers (Frank Marsden, representative); Thos. E. TVhitton, ac-- - countant; Thomas Mitchell, manufac-

Hirers’ agent; Auckland Technical College class room. - " —Fourth Storey.— Sarony Studio; John Derbyshire, indent agept; Ed. Crouch, indent agent; B. C. Chilwell, archtect; Jas. Wadham, caretaker of the building. INSURANCES AND LOSSES. The insurances on the Strand Arcade buildings totalled £17,000. Of this £7OOO was held in the New Zealand Office, the remaining £IO,OOO being distributed among the Alliance, Atlas, Northern, Guardian, and Australian Aliiouop nffippQ The Thistle Hotel (owner, P. Darby) was insured, but the insurances are not available. It is understood the Strand Arcade was heavily reinsured. The London and Royal held risks on the stocks as follows: Walter Darby £3IOO, Skelton, Frostick and Co. £ISOO, Crouch £l5O, Hume 100, W. Liddel and Co. £6OO.

The National held lines on stocks as under: P. M. Dewar £4OO, H. L. Hendrickson £IOO, B. C. Chilwell £IOO. Walter Darby had £6OOO to £7OOO on his stock, which was saved by iron shutters. Some of it was injured in removal. The Standard had £IOO on Letherby’s stock. x The London, Liverpool, Globe and North British held a risk over Leonard and Harrison’s stock. Messrs Prior (Strand Cafe) had £350 in. the Norwich. They estimate their loss at £650 above this. The licensee of the Albert hotel (P. J. Delaney) estimated damage sustained at £I2OO. Later. —Following is a list of corrected insurances: Northern Insurance office, Strand buildings £IOOO, Palmer’s stock £BOO. W. Darby £1000; Australian Alliance office, Strand building £SOO, New Zealand office, Arcade £SOO, Piccadilly tea-rooms £SOO, Mr. Mvers stored furniture £2OO, R. Taylor £150; South British office: R. Gregory £200; Sun office, British and Continental Piano Co. £1250; United office: British and Continental Piano Co. £ISOOO, Victoria office: British and Continental Piano Co. £500; Alliance office: Arcade £3000; Atlas, Arcade, £3500; Guardian office,Arcade £300; North British office, £4OO ; Royal office, Skelton, Frostick, and Co. (slight damage) £3000; London, Liverpool and Globe, Strand buildings £IOOO, brewery (slight damage) £2500, Leonard and Harrison £750 Misses Waugh and Walker £600; Norwich Union office, Mitchell £1678, Strand Cafe £350; Ocean Fire office, Christian Worker £7OO, Mrs Bains £l5O. A SERIOUS ACCIDENT. Three -workmen, Neil Howell, John Brown, and Charles Lapwood, while, engaged removing a safe from the Arcade fire ruins this afternoon, were struck by a falling brick wall, all receiving injuries. Howell apparently very seriousy. All three were conveyed to the hospital. Howell is in a critical condition. Reports are current that a woman was in the top’ storey of the Arcade while the fire was burning, crying for help, and making frantic efforts to. escape, but so far no one is reported missing. THE DAMAGE—£6O,OOO. As far as could be ascertained today from careful investigation, the total amount of damage by last night’s fire will probably prove to be in the neighborhood of £60,000. The chief damage done, of course, was to the Strand Arcade itself. This may be put down at about £30,000. The other principal losses were: British and Continental Piano Company £4OOO or £5000; Thomas Mitchell, agent for Messrs Bowron Bros., Christchurch, *-'.4000; Leonard and Harrison, £2500; Strand Cafe, £IOOO ; Albert Hotel, £100Q; Thistle* Hotel, £1500; Crouch, .£1000; D. Palmer, £2500.