Planned celebrations for the wedding of Princess Elizabeth that were due to be held on 20 November 1947 were cancelled and flags were instead flown at half mast throughout New Zealand, apart from a few official exemptions on Government Buildings. At least 680 people were in Ballantynes at the time of the fire - … Ballantynes’ Fire factsheet – An easy to read summary of this disaster. [12], Coordinates: .mw-parser-output .geo-default,.mw-parser-output .geo-dms,.mw-parser-output .geo-dec{display:inline}.mw-parser-output .geo-nondefault,.mw-parser-output .geo-multi-punct{display:none}.mw-parser-output .longitude,.mw-parser-output .latitude{white-space:nowrap}43°32′00″S 172°38′10″E / 43.533414°S 172.636220°E / -43.533414; 172.636220, Learn how and when to remove these template messages, Learn how and when to remove this template message, "41 die in Ballantyne's fire | NZHistory, New Zealand history online", "Fires and fire services—Fires in the 1940s", "Ballantynes' fire – Report of the Royal Commission Summary", "Ballantynes' fire – Report of the Royal Commission: Staff Response", "Ballantynes department store inferno survivor reveals failures and omissions in NZ's worst fire tragedy", "NZ Archives listing for Commission of Enquiry papers", "Ablaze: TV Movie about the Ballantynes fire", https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Ballantyne%27s_fire&oldid=973854069, Pages containing links to subscription-only content, Articles needing additional references from November 2011, All articles needing additional references, Wikipedia articles with style issues from December 2019, Articles with multiple maintenance issues, Articles with unsourced statements from December 2019, Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License, This page was last edited on 19 August 2020, at 16:24. The fire has also resonated with New Zealand fiction writers. The complex was situated where the present building stands at the intersection of Cashel and Colombo Streets. When the first fire appliance arrived about two minutes later at the Lichfield Street entrance the firefighters saw no sign of fire there. If you are still seeing this message and JavaScript is enabled in your browser then please either contact the library or fill in our technical support form and we will try to fix the problem. There were no emergency alarms to alert staff, and no way of automatically contacting the fire brigade. [5] This prime corner site covered about an acre that contained seven conjoined buildings, six of which had three or more hardwood floors that were interconnected on multiple levels by large passageways between the buildings to allow staff and customers to move freely about the store. Find out…, Local history: organisations & businesses, digitised resources about the Ballantynes' Fire, Ballantynes fire memorial photos at NZ History.net, Christchurch City Libraries' Terms of Use and Privacy Policy. Forty one coffins are laid out with flowers. Events In History. By 6:00pm firemen, policemen and volunteers were able to begin the search for bodies lying in the charred ruins. This speaks to the significance of the fire due to its rarity. [Kevin Boon] Home. In 1947 more than 300 people were employed in the department store of J. Ballantyne & Co, situated on the corner of Colombo Street and Cashel Street in the centre of Christchurch. This modal can be closed by pressing the Escape key or activating the close button. Ballantynes, symbol of an or­derly, correct life, suddenly burst into flame. During the afternoon of Tuesday the 18th November, 1947 fire broke out in the cellar of J Ballantyne & Co, a department store on the corner of Colombo and Cashel Streets in Christchurch. They were able to rescue Kenneth Ballantyne when he broke a window and climbed out onto the parapet of the building. The fire soon became out of control with the loss of 41 lives. In the credit department the office workers waited to shut up the office equipment, then tried to leave by the fire escape, but could not use it because of the smoke and heat. The fire is thought to have started in one of the basements of the Congreves building. There was no emergency evacuation plan and evacuation was left to the initiative of individual department heads. A huge three-storey drapery department store Ballantyne's was often busy and on this day there were over 300 customers and dozens of shoppers inside the building. BiblioWeb: app03 Version 3.26.0 Last updated 2021/01/20 06:52, After the Paint n’ Pen art exhibition, local…, #PopUpPenguins are in Christchurch! Two credit department employees jumped together from a top floor window of Pratt's Building on the corner of Colombo and Cashel Streets. The pergola that is part of the memorial collapsed in the 2011 Christchurch earthquake but was later rebuilt. He had gone across the street to smoke a cigarette with a friend, since Ballantynes had a strict no-smoking policy on its premises. The latter was considered equally unlikely as Keith Smith, the employee who was last working in the cellar, had left at about 3:30 pm for his afterno… Some parts of the building had no access to fire escapes. Of the 41 who died, 38 were staff, two were external auditors and one was from the Retail Salesmanship College. We think the use of soft fibre board in Ballantynes was a breach of the by-law forbidding its use, and the breach was not cured by the consent given. CHRISTCHURCH, NEW ZEALAND. The brigade initially thought that the fire was contained to the cellar. Yet a dignified Italianate facade concealed dangerous secrets. It has been noted that office employees were not evacuated as policy required that insured equipment be stored away in a fireproof strong room first. However, the fire-brigade ladders were obstructed from reaching the top floor by the store's rigid verandahs.[3]. At this point he climbed out onto a window ledge as the fire engulfed the floor behind him and was the last person to be rescued by firefighters from Pratt's Building at 4:10 pm. It remains the deadliest fire in New Zealand history.[2][3]. The fire brigade at the time was understaffed, and the two most senior officers were not on duty. Some heads of departments made the decision themselves to evacuate their staff from the upper floors of the building. In the meantime it took a further 10 minutes for the firefighters to find the source of the fire. Although an electrical fault or a discarded cigarette butt were both suggested as possibilities, the former could not be excluded by the commission of enquiry. Date 18 Nov 1947 Ref PAColl-8163-27 Description. Twinkl » New Zealand » Years 4 - 6 » Topics/Themes » Festivals, Celebrations and Events [Chapter Break] Fire was first seen in the form of a red pillar which shot from a cellar up a stair­well and roared with terri­fying speed through the eastern end of the central storey. The staff member who saw smoke coming from a stairwell asked a colleague to call the fire brigade. The cause of the fire was never established. WorldCat Home About WorldCat Help. It also recommended urgent changes to the building regulations and fire safety requirements to prevent another similar disaster. The commission recommended changes in fire prevention and firefighting throughout New Zealand. Due to the quantity of clothes made on the premises, the buildings were classified as factory buildings, which helped them to pass a Labour Department inspection in 1943. The Ballantyne's Department Store’s fire of 18 November 1947, in Christchurch, was the worst fire in New Zealand history, killing 41 people. All four people who lived in the home had safely evacuated before firefighters arrived. The building was unsafe, and did not meet city building regulations, although it had been inspected and passed four years earlier. When some minutes later the fire brigade had still not arrived, the salesman began to get concerned. He told the woman to call the fire brigade and tell the owners. An historical romance based on the Ballantynes Department Store Fire in 1947 that killed 41 people, most of them store employees trapped in controversial circumstances. Outside the firemen struggled to fight the flames in vain. Firefighters and Police were able to gain entry to the ground floor about 6 pm, where they found a number of bodies near the exits and others hanging from beams. The store management seemed to have not taken the risk of the fire seriously enough. 41 people lost their lives, 39 staff and 2 of the company's auditors from the partnership of Stewart Beckett. Ballantynes’ Fire resource –Transcripts of articles from newspapers and other sources regarding the Ballantynes’ Fire. By now over 200 firefighters using 20 appliances were fighting the blaze, but they were unable to make any headway against the fire. Just as he reached ground, power lines burned out and sheets of blue flame swept along the face of the store. Upstairs the owners, Kenneth and Roger Ballantyne, had been told about the fire, but there was some uncertainty whether the call to the fire brigade had been made. Just after 3:30 pm, smoke from the fire was first noticed coming up the cellar stairs. The bodies of the 41 victims were buried at Ruru Lawn Cemetery, Bromley, after a civic funeral. Ballantynes Fire Luke Sherry St Andrews College Overview Info On the 18th of November 1947 Ballantynes Department store in Christchurch erupted in flames. Me and a friend made this movie for the Christchurch Heritage Competition. He worked with other members of the staff to place fire extinguishers at the bottom of the stairs. Funeral for the Ballantynes Fire Victims at Ruru Lawn Cemetery, Christchurch. At 3:31pm on 18 November, 1947, one of the salesmen employed in the store was told by a woman employee that smoke was coming up the stairs. Ottawa Fire Services (OFS) says four people have been displaced from their home in Ottawa's east end after a garage fire spread to the attic. The fire was put out by 8 pm leaving the building as a gutted shell. Civic funeral for 41 Ballantyne's fire victims. This was the first sign from outside the shop that something was happening, but within minutes the building was aflame. There was no emergency plan in place and the staff had not been instructed on what to do in the event of a fire. The fire at the Ballantynes Department store in Christchurch on 18 November 1947 was the worst fire in New Zealand’s history. On 18 November 1947 Ballantynes was razed by one of the worst fires in New Zealand’s history. Staff were eagerly awaiting a visit from … Photograph taken on 26 November 1947, by an unidentified photographer for the Free Lance. 1947 The Ballantynes Fire, 18 November The Ballantynes fire was a tragic event in the history of New Zealand and for Christchurch and Ballantynes in particular. Oct 2, 2019 - Explore Amelia Ward's board "Ballantynes Fire (RIP Isobel)" on Pinterest. About 250 customers and the retail staff on the ground floor were moved outside, but there was no move to clear the upper floors of the staff who had just returned to work after their tea break. The effects on the community General The fire started just before 11 a.m. at a home on Ballantyne Drive, just east of Portobello Boulevard in Orléans. [2] The commission noted that the 30 minutes between the first call to the fire brigade and point of flashover would have been enough time to evacuate everyone in the building without injury. Ballantynes by the time of the fire was widely known as the queen of department stores in the city. A DigitalNZ Story by Donna Robertson. Over time superheated gas and fire began working into the floors above. From its humble beginnings the Ballantynes business expanded until, by 1947, it occupied 80 m of street front in Cashel Street, 50 m in Colombo Street and another 21 m in Lichfield Street. At first the firemen thought it was just a cellar fire. Search for Library Items Search for Lists Search for Contacts Search for a Library. This demonstrates that perhaps in addition to the years PRECEDING the fire, the yeARS SUCCEEDING it may also have yielded very little inquiries that were as serious and tragic as the Ballantyne's fire. With Hannah Marshall, Daniel Watterson, Mark Mitchinson, Jared Turner. Only the supervisor and one of the department staff made it safely to the fire escape and down. Sailors of the ships Bellona and Arbytus (Royal New Zealand Navy) help to attack the flames [1947], CCL PhotoCD 15, IMG0038More staff left the building just as the centre of the department store exploded in flames, blowing out two large windows. November 18, 1947. Ballantynes is a well-known department store in Christchurch. The department store blaze remains the deadliest fire in New Zealand history, claiming the lives of 41 people. 1947 The Ballantynes Fire, 18 November The Ballantynes fire was a tragic event in the history of New Zealand and for Christchurch and Ballantynes in particular. On 18 November 1947 a fire broke out in the store and many workers became trapped on the upper floors. She then slewed upside down and then fell head first to the pavement in Cashel Street. The sequence of delays, errors, and fatal mistakes made by management during the next 25 minutes have been portrayed most memorably in the novel Gardens of Fire by historian and novelist Stevan Eldred-Grigg, who based the book on detailed research and interviews with survivors. A DigitalNZ Story by Donna Robertson. Twinkl » New Zealand » Years 4 - 6 » Topics/Themes » Festivals, Celebrations and Events The fire at the Ballantynes Department store in Christchurch on 18 November 1947 was the worst fire in New Zealand’s history. A civic funeral service was held in the Anglican Cathedral on 23 November, followed by a mass burial. Please ensure that you have JavaScript enabled in your browser. In this entry we will show you how to find information about the start of the fire, how it spread throughout the store, who … It started in the basement of the furniture department, which was located at southern end of the Colombo Street frontage of the complex. In the most tragic circumstances 41 On 18 November 1947 Ballantyne's, a Christchurch department store that was a local institution, was razed by one of the worst fires in New Zealand's history. Sixty-eight years ago on November 18, 1947 Christchurch's Ballantynes department store was razed by fire. Along with some of the women from the credit department and in spite of the growing signs of disaster he had kept the staff working until about 3:55 pm. The bodies of the 41 victims were buried at Ruru Lawn Cemetery, Bromley, after a civic funeral. Ballantynes fire, Christchurch. Christchurch writer Stevan Eldred-Grigg’s 1993 book Gardens of Fire is … The firefighter making the call had to first push through the crowd to get to a pharmacy and then had to wait for the overloaded telephone exchange lines to clear before he could make the call. She died soon after from her injuries. The women who had stayed in the office died in the fire. The Ballantynes fire on November 18, 1947, remains New Zealand's deadliest fire tragedy. Around the outside of the building was a veranda which made it difficult for the fire fighters to put up their ladders. These fact cards are related to the events that unfolded in 1947 when the fire broke out at the Ballantyne's department store in Christchurch, New Zealand. [3] After flashover the first floor was almost instantly consumed by a wall of flame. Inasmuch as no requisition was served on Messrs. Ballantynes bv the fire brigade, it cannot be said that there was a breach of the Christchurch Fire Board Fire Escapes By-law, 1930. In 1947 more than 300 people were employed in the department store of J. Ballantyne & Co, situated on the corner of Colombo Street and Cashel Street in the centre of Christchurch. Ballantynes is a Christchurch department store that traces its origins back to a millinery and drapery business that began in the front room of a Cashel Street residence in 1854. The last bodies were not carried out of the building until 21 November. The fire-damaged buildings were demolished and the main Ballantynes store was rebuilt on the corner of Colombo Street and Cashel Street. At first the firefighters had only shorter ladders which could not reach the windows on the upper floors. Klaxons that had been installed during the Second World War and the Vigilant sprinkler fire alarm in one building had not been maintained and both were eventually removed. None of the victims were identifiable apart from Violet Cody. This is a sample of photographs of the Ballantynes’ Fire disaster of 18 November 1947. From there they were rescued by firemen. At 3:31pm on 18 November, 1947, one of the salesmen employed in the store was to… They landed, injured but alive, on a slate verandah and were rescued by members of the public using a ladder and taken to hospital. Longtime Christchurch resident Don Clark was nearby on the day and said everyone was connected to someone affected. 41 people had died in the blaze. In 1947 Ballantynes had 458 staff, and its premises were made up of eight buildings, joined by openings to make one establishment. Photo / Christchurch Star Archive. They spent about 10 minutes searching for the seat of the fire but were unable to locate it. Local drama Ablaze re-enacts the Ballantynes' fire of 1947, one of New Zealand's deadliest disasters. The fire at the Ballantynes Department store in Christchurch on 18 November 1947 was the worst fire in New Zealand’s history. The fire in Christchurch’s prestigious department store was the deadliest in New Zealand’s history. The other seven died after they collapsed from smoke inhalation. Ballantyne Coat of Arms: Quarterly, 1st and 4th, gules, a chevron argent between three mullets or (for Bannatyne); 2nd and 3rd, azure, a castle triple towered argent, masoned sable, windows and portcullis shut gules, in dexter chief a mullet or (for Macleod). Although an electrical fault or a discarded cigarette butt were both suggested as possibilities, the former could not be excluded by the commission of enquiry. These fact cards are related to the events that unfolded in 1947 when the fire broke out at the Ballantyne's department store in Christchurch, New Zealand. Someone contacted the phone operator and stated that the fire brigade be called. The staff had no access to a formal fire evacuation plan. The staff in the dress-making section on the second floor escaped after taking the stairs and leaving the building just as the upper parts of the store began to collapse. His was the last rescue. Staff discovering the fire informed their floor manager upon their own initiative. If you want to find out more about this tragic event, Christchurch City Libraries has a resource that features transcripts of articles from newspapers and other sources about the fire. They were met by joint managing director Roger Ballantyne, who showed the fire crew a back access way to the cellar. They didn't bring a ladder. The fire officer in charge soon realised the severity of the fire and sent a fireman to make a brigade call that would bring out all the fire appliances in Christchurch, but the call was delayed by overloaded telephone lines. Well renowned for its quality merchandise and exceptional service, Ballantynes is the place to go for leading fashion, beauty and homewares brands. The quality of the photograph seems to date it after the Ballantyne's fire. Other. The Ballantynes fire on November 18, 1947 remains New Zealand's deadliest fire tragedy. Another call was made to be certain. The fire in Christchurch’s prestigious department store was the deadliest in New Zealand’s history. [10], A commission[11] later determined that the fire response had been inadequate and the building had not met fire regulations, though it had passed its last inspection four years earlier. They then moved into Colombo Street where they saw smoke coming out of an enclosed alleyway. The effects on the community General Ballantynes' Fire 18 November 1947. They did not realise that people were trapped on the upper floors of the building. This call was received at the fire station at 3:46pm. 23 November 1947. The store itself was made up of seven smaller buildings linked together, and was four storeys high in some places. The group moved to another area but were driven back by the smoke. The store's interior partitions had untreated soft wood-fibre linings that had been permitted by the Christchurch City Council contrary to its own bylaws. When the fire began in a basement about 3.30 p.m., 250–300 people were shopping at Ballantyne’s, which had a staff of 458. Kenneth Ballantyne had found himself trapped. A dramatisation of the fire, Ablaze, was directed by Josh Frizzell and screened by TVNZ in 2019. On Tuesday, 18 November 1947, a fire engulfed Ballantynes department store in central Christchurch, New Zealand. Smoke and flames masking Dunstable House, part of the department store of J Ballantynes and Company on Colombo Street, Christchurch, during the fire that destroyed the building. 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