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Salient. An Organ of Student Opinion at Victoria College, Wellington, N.Z. Vol. 13, No. 12. June 15, 1950

Fire Over Devon

Fire Over Devon

50 Devon Street has long housed University students—it is handy to University and that is a dominant motive for any student wanting to live there. Despite the fact that its construction and state made it not the most desirable place to live in, it has been very useful. No-one would try to count the number of times people have wound up that way after one bash or another. But the bashing days are over.

About noon on Monday, and only the stoutest efforts of the brigade saved the bottom flats. Volumes of smoke and water, though, made the state almost as bad. That the Fire Brigade was successful in stopping the flames was commendable: that they saved it even in part considering the state of the building made it miraculous.

Four families lived there—two of them, the Mellings and the Gawns, are well known enough at VUC. "Salient" and the Tramping Club and the Exec, have seen their presence. They saved some of their possessions from extinction in the shambles of the bottom flats. They had a common entrance.

The people on the top floor have one common entrance, reached by a drawbridge-like porch which, if damaged, could easily have been a fire trap.

There were no fire escapes.

As it was they were lucky they saved themselves and their baby, even if they lost all their personal possessions.

There are many such old buildings in Wellington, most of them good fire traps. Though four families lost their homes, and two of them nearly everything they had, we can be thankful that the Providence which failed to provide fire escapes at least got them out before this neglect took toll.