Other Event Detail

Seacliff Lunatic Asylum Fire
Seacliff, New Zealand

December 8, 1942

Fire broke out at the Seacliff Lunatic Asylum in Seacliff, New Zealand on December 8, 1942, at 9:45 p.m. The fire started in Ward 5, a two-story wooden structure added onto the original building, holding 39 female patients, who were locked into their rooms or into a 20-bed dormitory. The fire was noticed by a male attendant and the hospital firefighters tried to extinguish it with water from a near-by hydrant. However, the flames were too strong, and after an hour, the ward was reduced to ashes. Two women were saved from rooms that did not have locked shutters. All other patients in the ward are believed to have died from smoke inhalation. The fire was kept from spreading to other buildings.

 Copyright © 2004 -2024  Liberty Hose Company No. 2.   All rights reserved.  |  Legal  |  About Our Site  |