3rd Alarm-138, Bedford Street, Kowloon
122. During the afternoon of 13th July, 1965 a fire broke out in a rubber shoe factory occupying the ground floor and cockloft of a 4 storey reinforced concrete building. The fire though fierce due to the huge stocks of raw and finished materials in the factory could not be classified as a serious one; it was extinguished in less than an hour and the financial loss was less than $38,000. The fire is, however, mentioned here to illustrate the growing demands on our breathing apparatus resources. At this one fire, 24 breathing apparatus sets were simultaneously in use throughout the operations since the entire premises were heavily smoke-logged.
4th Alarm-30, Fuk Wing Street, Kowloon
123. Shortly after 11 p.m. on 8th August, 1965, a fire broke out in this 12 storey reinforced concrete tenement building and on arrival at the scene the first attending crews were confronted with an extremely fierce fire in the ground floor and cockloft which were occupied as a metal chair workshop.
124. The occupants used highly inflammable paint in their process- ing and also had relatively large stocks of paint and thinners on the premises at the time of the fire. The painting of metal chair frames was apparently carried out by dipping them whilst still hot from brazing and welding in a solution of paint and thinners. It was believed that the fire was caused by vapours from this solution being ignited by a nearby open fire or by an incandescent particle still adhering to a chair frame when being dipped.
125. Whatever the cause, the fire flashed through the ground floor killing 7 persons, including 5 young children. Rescue teams found it quite impossible to force an entry into the ground floor which was already a raging inferno when they arrived but succeeded in locating approximately 55 people in the upper floors and conducting them to safety. The fire was extinguished by about 23.55 hours, i.e. 41 minutes after the time of call. The estimated damage was confirmed to be $25,000.
Aircraft Crash-Kowloon Bay
126. Shortly after 10 a.m. on 24th August, 1965 a United States Marine Corps C-130 aircraft with 71 persons on board plunged into the Kowloon Bay when attempting to take off from Hong Kong Airport. As it plummeted towards the sea one wing hit the sea wall and the
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