On the 18th November, 1947, in Christchurch, New Zealand, smoke was detected in the basement of the Ballantynes department store, a complex of buildings. Customers were evacuated but staff were ordered back to their work stations and many of those were in the upper floors amongst a maze of corridors.
41 employees died in New Zealand’s worst disaster including my aunt, then a young 16 year old working the telephone exchange, who stayed at her desk warning other departments and presumably calling the fire brigade. The initial firemen arrived without ladders – thinking they were investigating a basement fire – but the fire soon engulfed the building trapping many of the staff inside. Workers in the neighbouring buildings across narrow lanes could see the calamity unfolding but were unable to offer assistance.
The maze of corridors constructed of flammable materials was part of the problem but lack of procedures and failure to order the immediate evacuation of all staff led to the many deaths. The fire was such a tragedy that it helped shape building regulations and fire evacuation procedures in both New Zealand and Australia. I never complain when we have a fire drill in our building at 60 Leicester Street.
"New Zealand's deadliest blaze, the Ballantynes fire, is being remembered by relatives of the 41 employees killed in the burning Christchurch department store 67 years ago. A ceremony will be held to mark the anniversary of the fire which ripped through the grand Colombo Street store on the afternoon of November 18, 1947. Most workers died of burns or smoke inhalation while trying to flee the store complex without a fire alarm or evacuation plan. Others, like pregnant woman Violet Cody, tried in vain to escape by climbing out the shop windows. A memorial was erected at the Ruru Lawn Cemetery in Bromley in memory of the dead, but it was badly damaged in the February 2011 earthquake, with several of the pillars falling. Relatives will gather today at the newly rebuilt memorial on the same site in Bromley, where the victims of the fire are buried."
The Ballantynes fire memorial in Bromley, Christchurch. (Rebuilt after the earthquake)
"The Ballantynes fire was a tragic event in which 41 people lost their lives, thirty-nine staff and two of the company’s auditors from the partnership of Stewart Beckett. A civic funeral was held in Christchurch Cathedral on Sunday, 23 November 1947, and thousands of local Cantabrians lined the streets in tribute, from Cathedral Square to the Ruru Lawn Cemetery in Linwood where a Pergola and Rose Garden were established as a memorial.
"Following a Royal Commission enquiry into the tragedy many changes were subsequently made to New Zealand’s fire service, building codes for commercial and public buildings, and health and safety conduct for commercial premises."
Ref: From the program for the Service for the Rededication of the Memorial to the Victims of the Ballantynes fire, 18th November, 2014, Christchurch City Council
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