THE AUCKLAND FIRE.

Gisborne Times, Volume XXVII, Issue 2585, 20 August 1909, Page 2

THE AUCKLAND FIRE.

INCIDENTS OF THE FIRE. Many were the comments of the crowd upon the plucky action of the firemen who clung to the apex of the roof of the Albert Hotel right through the blaze and fury of the flames, and had a great deal to .do with their final subjugation. The lot of these men must have been all unenviable one. During the height of the fire, the old buildings on the opposite side of the street were more than once in imminent danger of catching alight from the (lying sparks and burning fragments that flew across the road, and in some instances they caught alight, but a willing “bucket” brigade was soon upon the roof -tops and quickly subdued any incipient fires that betrayed themselves. Shortly after the outbreak numbers of youths and small boys scaled the verandahs on the opposite side of the street to such an extent that one or two of the structures were in imminent danger of giving way. There were some amusing incidents in connection with the fire. A man had been half shaved by a barber opposite the. Strand Arcade when the fire broke out. Without a moment’s hesitation he leapt cut of the chair with the lather still clinging to one side of his face, and was never seen again by the barber during the evening. The windows of one shop in the vicinity of the fire had a narrow escape of being shattered. The crowd was wedged closely up against the shop front, and the pressure was gradually growing stronger. With a rush the occupants of the shop flung open the door, and with the iron screen grasped tightly charged the crowd and after a brief skirmish had carried the _ day, and affixed the safeguard into position. When the adjacent shopkeepers and publicans were salvaging their wares and chattels, an enterprising carrier drove up, but his keenness did not meet with its due reward, his services not being called into requisition. As Messrs J. 11. and Robert McCarroll were walking along Queen-street on their way to the Tivoli Theatre, their conversation turned to the subject of fires. “I. haven’t seen a fire in Auckland for years,” remarked one of the brothers, and hardly had the words left his mouth when they caught'their first view of the burning Arcade. Mr Arthur Myers’ present trip to England will always be unpleasantly associated with fires. On the day that lie left Auckland, the Takapuna Hotel, owned by his' firm, was destroyed by fire. To-day lie will receive word of another and a greater loss. About IS months ago Mr Leo. Myers, on arriving at Sydney, on his way home from England, received word of a fire at his residence on the same day. The small boy had an opportunity in the early stages of the fire of displaying his prowess in stone-throwing to some effect. When the brigade commenced to play on the Elliott-street frontage of the doomed building, it was necessary to break the window to introduce the leads of water. A number of boys, armed with the most convenient missiles in the way of road metal, soon achieved the desired end.

The utility of the motor car for speedily reaching a fire was very evident when the Ponsonby brigade’s motor was on route to the conflagration. A resident of College Hill who saw the car pass said that in .his estimation it went down College Hill at almost 60 miles an hour. The valuable assistance by the volunteer corps, while recognised and eulogised by Inspector Cullen and others, was not appreciated by a certain section of the crowd. The pressure on the lines of the cordon meant that in many instances a little heaviness of hand was needed to keep the crowd back. During one of these periods a party of hoodlums jeered the citizen soldiers.

Smart work s was done by a messenger named Benjamin and others in getting stock and fittings out of the Post Office. Through their efforts the instruments and stamps were removed. Only one man came into the hands of the police during the progress of the fire. He wanted to see all that was going on, and is alleged to have assaulted a.volunteer who tried to keep him back in the crowd, and subsequently a constable. The larrikin element made the task of the police and volunteers who were keeping the road none too easy. A number of young fellows made themselves objectionable by jostling on the pavement on the opposite side of the street, and during the evening Inspector Cullen had occasion to make a short speech, in which he intimated pretty plainly that for the time being the fire brigades, volunteers, and police had charge of the street. A good deal of thieving went on while salvage operations were in progress. One man went down Queen-street, in a hurry, -with a pair of stays in one hand and a’ pair of boots in the other. In all about 100 firemen were engaged on the fire. WHAT ONLOOKERS 'SAW. AWE-INSPIRING SPECTACLE. The fire when seen at its height was a magnificent and awe-inspiring spectacle, and to the dwellers in the outei suburbs it seemed as if the whole of the Queen-street block was blazing, and, indeed, the glare was observed from a long way beyond Drury, while tel©phone inquiries came also from beyond Henderson. By eight o’clock the flames were showing up in big volume, and from all parts of the city there was an eager rush of spectators, many thousands journeying in by tramcar on all the suburban lines, until, by 8.30, every point of vantage was densely crowded, anywhere from 12,000? to 15,000 people gathering in Albert Park and in the streets and on the higher levels that afforded a vieiv of the flames. By this time the whole of the Strand Arcade was a roaring mass of flame; the glare, being reflected back from windows 'in Ponsonby Newton, Symonds-street, Grafton, and even on the North Shore, and, as a fire scene, the spectacle has not been witnessd in Auckland for many years.. , In'- a fire crowd the percentage pausing to think of th© loss and damage is probably comparatively small,

the crowd judges by spectacular effect, eand last night it certainly had something to 6ec. Observed from view .points in Symonds-street, there was such a tremendous body of flame that it was difficult to locate the exact building; Smith and Caughey’s’ shops, the Albert Hotel, .and the Strand Arcade all seemed to be involved. The wind at the time was comparatively light, but it seemed as if a gale was blowing so fiercely did the fire rage, the giant columns of flame rising for edit above the roof, and then suddenly falling away and spreading out in great lurid sheets, while occasionally a big body of flame would assume a spiral form, whirling round and ascending fully a hundred feet above the mam buildings. One great mass o: fire only flickered down to give place to mother roaring, crackling hurricane of flame, and the appalling swiftness with which the fire spread out and out and upward told of terrible destruction being wrought below, while vast columns of dense black smoke rose in all quarters and drifted away over .Albert Park. As the smoke rose it caught the glare of the lire and became, in appearance, almost like fire itself, while a steady rain of sparks fell ov,er Queen-street, on the buildings on the east side and away over in Princess-street, Symonds-street, and Grafton Road. This continual shower of sparks presented a weird and brilliant effect against the dark sky, and was witnessed from a great distance away. Seen from North Shore the fire appeared to be on a tremendous scale; the waters' of the harbor were shining with a red glow, and all the business portion of tlm city was brilliantly illuminated, the buildings along the water front standing out in sharp and black silhouette against the great glare beyond. From Albert Park the big fire was even more terrible than from Queenstreet, as, from the higher ground, a more comprehensive view was obtained. The flames were seen to cut their way along the building with astonishing rapidity, and in a few minutes from the first appearance of the larger body of fire above the roof the whole of the Arcade was blazing. When the roof ■f'el] in there was a. tremendous uprush of flame, which raised sheets of iron and masses of debris like so many strips of paper tossed up by a whirlwind. After the roof went, the fire seemed to be exhausting itself and, although burning fiercely for some time., afterwards, it was gradually decreasing in volume and the flames slowly sank beneath the level of the walls.