A rubbish bin saved Cohen's Business Centre, in Ridgway St, from ruin. Dave Cohen is pictured with the bin and some of the computer equipment that melted after a ceiling fluorescent light fitting caught fire and dropped into the bin.
It was just after 5pm on Thursday, and the staff were
still on the premises.
"The bin saved the shop because the paper (in the bin) caught alight and activated the fire alarms.
"If the bin wasn't there, the material would have dropped on to the carpet and smouldered through the night, and we may not have been so lucky," Mr Cohen said.
The upper-floor office was covered with a film of smoke dust and smoke damage to computer equipment was severe.
The Wanganui fire service and one ambulance attended the fire and Adrian Barnes Electricians disconnected electrical equipment.
Station officer Bryan Croskerie said they had received call-outs in the past couple of weeks to fires caused by fluorescent light fittings at the ANZ Bank and Coronation Machinery.
