$21,000 Damage In Two Tahuna Fires

Within the space of a week, two buildings not 50 yards apart were gutted by fire. The first (pictures of which appear on this page), destroyed the sawmill of Timber Distributors Ltd, Bolt Road, and did about $10,000 damage to plant and building. The next week the brigade also turned out to Bolt Road where a big storage shed on the property of Keith Robson Ltd was gutted. Goods belonging to Mr J. N. Dalhoff (worth about $8,000) and the building, were destroyed On both days strong southerly winds were blowing and the Nelson and Stoke Fire Brigades did extremely well to prevent the spread to adjoining property and great stacks of timber.

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A view of the sawmill, gutted in a few minutes

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Stoke brigadesmen take time out for a cuppa

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It's thirsty work for traffic officers also

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A view from the sawdust stack

After fire had swept through the storage building at Keith Robson Ltd, it moved into a huge stack of sawdust at the rear and into adjoining trees. Here it was contained and eventually extinguished. The 4500 sq.ft. building was gutted within minutes. All that remained was a small leanto building containing acoustic wall board, all of which was destroyed or damaged by water and smoke.

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The gutted building within 30 minutes of the outbreak

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There were plenty of young volunteers to lend a hand to shift heavy hoses

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Some of the valuable machinery lost can be seen in this pic