Lights in Ballantyne’s failed, but assistants continued their duties

The Star-Sun, Nov 20, 1947. p.3.

A second after the passenger lift in the front of Ballantyne’s store stopped at the ground floor on the afternoon of the fire, there was a loud report and the lights in the building went out, said one of the four women who were in the lift on it’s last run.

Before she left the lift she said to the lift operator, "You have a fire here."

His reply was, "Yes, it's down below. The fire brigade is outside."

As the woman walked from the lift, smoke from the upper floors was filtering down to the ground floor. Shop assistants were still at the counters serving customers.

Every month, this woman and three of her friends met in town for afternoon tea, and on Tuesday afternoon they had chosen Ballantynes. As they walked out of the tearooms they remarked on the presence of smoke, which seemed to be coming from the furnishing department just off the landing at the top of the stairs.

"It was strange that people were still being served with afternoon tea," she said. "We saw that there was a fire in the building and went straight for the lift. People were still going into the tearooms then."