“CAUGHT IN A TRAP.”

Miss Enid Coleby, one of the workers who was in the structure at the outbreak of the fire, informed our representative that there were about eighteen of them with Mr. Edward Jones, the foreman. They were engaged upon breaking up cartridges, for which purpose they used a small brass implement. They had been thus occupied for about forty minutes, when suddenly there was a dull thud, and the room became full of sparks. Girls rushed out of the hut, and almost immediately the place caught fire and burnt fiercely. “We rushed to the canteen,” she said, “and the girls from another hut, who had seen the flames, joined us. A roll-call was then taken, and we were then able to go to the Thames Ammunition Works canteen near by. The girls must have been caught in a trap. Miss Ivy Coshill, who was slightly burnt on the leg, said there was something of a panic, and the girls made a rush at once for the doors. The fire seemed to break out at the emergency exit, so the girls tried to get out at the usual door.

Major Mckenna, Chief Safety Officer of the Disposals Board, informed our representative that Captain A. Macdonald, who had an intimate knowledge of explosives, was always at the works and vetoed anything that he considered dangerous. Those who were engaged at the factory did not deal with things that exploded; they merely handled Verey lights – dismantling light cartridges required in the war for various purposes, such as signalling and for illuminations. The girls were employed in separating the component parts of the cartridges by means of a small brass tool which would not produce a spark. So careful were they to avoid danger in breaking the cartridges containing a small portion of gunpowder and a Verey light, that the floor was covered with linoleum, as were also the small boxes into which the powder was placed, so that no wood was exposed against which the cartridges could come in contact. The cause of the fire was a mystery to him.