CHATTER IV
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11
THE OUTBREAK OF FIRE AND RESCUE OPERATIONS.
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A Detailed Description of the Early Stages of the Fire:
24. We heard evidence from a number of eyewitnesses of the outbreak
of the fire, and the time when the first sign of fire was noticed can be
fixed accurately at five minutes past eight o'clock. It began by a small flame emerging from a ventilating fan-light in godown No. 5, just below the verandah of No. 363. This was followed in a very short time by a long tongue of orange-red flame and by a number of explosions, which
though not very violent had sufficient force to blow out the grille
across the fan-light and dislodge some of the brickwork below. This
stage is most clearly described by quoting the words of an eyewitness, Mr. H.B. Gould, Works Superintendent of the Hong Kong and China Gas
Company. Mr. Gould said :
"I noticed a small flame licking out from under the balcony. It was a bright orange colour and quite a lazy flame, It merely trickled slowly out from under the balcony. I was just about to go to the telephone when a flame,... shot by the window. This flame was also bright orange in colour, and it was accompanied by a noise rather like a very strong wind or rushing water. There were a lot of what appeared to be balls of fire mixed up in this flame. The duration of the flame was, I should say, about 10 seconds. The nearest description I can give of it would be that it was like a blow lamp flane. It lasted for about 10 seconds and then it cleared.
25.
All witnesses are agreed upon the enormous heat that accompanied this initial flame; in fact the front windows of a tramear some 250 feet
away were cracked by the heat. The flame penetrated right across the road and set alight to a lorry in the Gas Works' yard. Mr. A. Thomson, a Waterworks Inspector, whose home is on a level well above that of the
tenements, was able to state that he saw the flame rise higher than the
level of his house. This means that it rose some 280 feet into the air.
Witnesses varied in their estimate of duration of this great flame, but it continued probably not longer than 30 seconds and then receded. It had by then set the whole of the western end of the tenements firmly ablaze. Although we were unable to obtain any direct evidence, there is little doubt that the same flame penetrated in an opposite direction into godown No. 2 and set some of the contents of that godown on fire. The colour of the flame and the comparatively mild explosion are charac-