APPENDIX 3.
REPORT BY MR. R. C. TERRY, ASSISTANT GOVERNMENT CHEMIST, ON INVESTIGAT-
IONS INTO THE CAUSE OF THE WING ON FIRE.
1.BY
81
1. General.
This report supersedes the interim report on the fire investi- gations, dated 9 October 1948, The content of that report has not been altered, but only extended, amplified and re-arranged in line with the final development of the investigation.
This report has deliberately been made rather comprehensive, in order to serve as a record for such future reference as may be nec- essary. A condensed summary has been added for convenience,
All the investigations detailed herein, other than the labora- tory work, have been carried out jointly by Dot.-Insp. Shaw and myself.
2)
b)
The report is divided into the following sections:
Observations made on the site,
General picture of the fire, from the technical standpoint.
c)
Contents of Godown No. 5.
a)
Early theories of origin of the fire.
e)
Final theory of origin;
properties of nitrate film.
f)
Summary.
The investigation was commenced at the Wing On Godowns on the afternoon of 23 Sept. 1948.
Sample
2.
Observations made on the site.
(a)
Structure.
No. 5 Godown, being a reinforced concrete building, had rc- sisted the fire very well, a sagging of the ceiling above stacks 49 and 52 (see attached plan No. 1) being the only obvious distortion. A hole about 10 feet wide by 4 feet high had been blown out of the Des Voeux Road wall on the ground floor corresponding to No. 363.
The iron door in Scavenging Lane was bulged outwards, as if by blast, and that leading to Whitty Street was slightly bulged. The bars of the left hand window giving on Scavenging Lane (Plan, top left) had been forced out and were overhanging the lane.
The granite pillars supporting the arcade outside were exten- 4669(a) sively flaked by the great heat, to a depth of 1-2 inches from the sur-
Sample 4668
Sample 4661
face.
(b) Area around Stack 52 (on plan No. 1) and the road outside
hole in wall,
Immediately inside the hole blown in the wall was a large quantity of steel drums, mainly lidless but some with lids partially forced off by internal pressure, This stack is that marked 52 in the plan. There was a complete layer of upright drums on the floor, and on top of them, a confused mass of upset drums, lids, and half-burnt bales of raw rubber.
To the right of this was a large stack of phosphate fertilizer in straw sacks; this, being an inert material, had not burnt but some