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Fuller's Opera House in Wellesley street was gutted by
fire last night. The city brigade received the call at 11.21pm and by that
time the interior of the building was a raging furnace, but the firemen
put up a desperate fight and prevented the place from being completely
destroyed.
The outbreak was discovered some time after the evening
theatre performance had concluded and at the time the three persons in
the building were the stage manager Mr W.A. Singe, Mrs Singe and Mr Diamond
a scenic artist. The cause of the fire was apparently the blowing out a
fuse on the No. 2 switch board. The flames immediately spread to the "flies"
and in a few moments a mass of inflammable material and the stage curtain
was ablaze. The three occupants of the theatre had to make a hasty exit,
Mr Diamond receiving some burns on the arm.
Inferno of Flames
The City Fire Brigade reached the Opera House promptly
and by then the building was an inferno, tongues of flame having burst
through the windows and dome to brilliantly illuminate the surroundings.
The firemen had to force entrances at various parts of the building and
then the fire was attacked from every possible vantage point, the work
inside being of an exceptionally dangerous nature owing to thick clouds
of smoke and debris raining down from the roof.
It was about midnight before the brigade had the upper
hand and up to then there had been grave danger of the fire spreading to
the adjoining places. The fire had the biggest hold at the stage end of
the building adjoining Elliot Street and for some time the firemen had
to concentrate most of their efforts at that point.
The spectacular nature of the fire attracted thousands
of spectators to the vicinity and often daring work by the firemen was
cheered. At midnight the crowd started to thin out but through the rest
of the night a detachment of the brigade was kept hard at work to deal
with the smouldering debris.
A small dog owned by Mr. Clem Dawe of the "Midnight frolics"
Company was shut up in one of the rooms in the building but it was liberated
in time and quickly made its escape.
Scene of Desolation.
This morning the interior of the Opera House presented
a scene of desolation and the sunlight streamed through on to piles of
charred debris and beams. Beneath the stage in the basement there was water
ankle deep which flowed about the "props" of the Midnight Follies Company
while members of the company waded to and fro in an endeavour to assess
the amount of damage. As much of the property was packed in crates the
full extent of the damage could not be ascertained but the dyes were running
freely and it was evident that anything in the nature of wearing apparel
had suffered severely. The management of the company promptly arranged
with one of the city laundries to assist in drying out progress and was
hopeful of being able to carry on with the least possible delay.
-Auckland Star, Saturday December 4 1926.
LCRD CINEMA NOTES: The Opera House was first
used as a cinema on 13 October 1896. The theatre was not rebuilt after
the fire.
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