13 Houses Damaged in Tiffin Time Outbreak Thirteen unoccupied shops and houses suffered irreparable damage in la huge fire which occurred in Hongkew yesterday noon following 2 blaze in one of the shops, which quickly spread along the whole row, defying the efforts of firemen to bring it under control.
Starting at a shop situated at 183 Market St. just before 12.30 p.m., the fire spread rapidly along the whole row of unoccupied shops, and then into lanes off the road, from where thei flames were carried by a strong breeze to several lanes off Yuenfong Road.
By the time the fire had reached Yuenfong Road, the first shop to jeatch fire had been gutted, and the rest of the block was blazing furiously. Huge palls of dense smoke were being blown across the area and üames were shooting high into the "Receiving a call at 12.38 three engines were despatched from the Hongkew Station, and on arrival at the scene found that the flames had Zained rapidly, making it virtually mpossible to save any of the first few shops which had been eaten by the conflagration.
Attacking the blaze from different Points firemen from the three engine Poured thousands of gallons of ware: into the fire and after nearly three hours' work gained control.
As a result of the fire three shops situated at 186, 188 and 190 Market St were gutted completely, No. 192 was very badly damaged, and at No. 184 the roof and ceiling suffered from the ravages of the flames and water.
The roofs and ceilings of Nos. 182 and 180 were destroyed by the blaze, while on Yuenfong Road the drying stages and window frames were burnt at Nos. 10, 12, and 14. At Lane 170 off Yuenfong Road, a house situated at No. 15 was damaged, the roof and ceiling being scorched. The last house to suffer from the fire was Nd. 168 Market St. where woodwork and a drying stage were completely burnt.
No one was injured by the blaze which was one of the largest seen in the district for some time, although, at one time, it was thought that the dense smoke would harm the large crowd which had gathered in the vicinity. The wind, however, dispersed the clouds, but had the effect of wafting the huge flames towards other property with disastrous results.
All the property was unoccupied the "North-China Daily News" was informed yesterday, but the damage s expected to be great.
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.