Ellsworth American., 1873-06-05
Fighting Fire.
The Value OF MaLiag the Attack q.
Time.


From Protection against Fire. by Joseph Bird.]
1t should be the duty OF some person in
every town to give the cause Of fires, why
they were not put out at once, how large
or small they were first seen. how much
they had increased when water was thrown
upon them, and If extinguished at once
and without loss. the manner and means
made known, that other property might be
saved in like manner. II such a record
wa> published, we should learn that one
cause Of fires was the crowding together
II wooden buildings. a. at Portland and
Chicago. from which, sparks, flying
from building on fire, the first.
would set many others on fire before the
first engine could be got to work, or even
perhaps before the telegraph told the fire.
men there was a fire. And if 1t should be
proved that for these little fires the small
hand engines were more efficient than great
steam iire-engines. and that such fires, by
their use. could have been put out with
loss Of a few dollars instead OF many mill
lions. they would soon be adopted. Then
hy the combined iorce Of the steamers and
the small engines, conflagrations would be-
come almost obsolete. Many al. awful fire,
the news OF which has been sent all over
the land, would have been dashed out with
out loss by some man or woman. boy or
girl if proper and efficient means for
doing il were AT hand, and ii was the Gus
In l1-h in of sa1f
possession at fires. as it was of the heroic
deeds ofthe soldiers in our late war.
Take for instance. the following exam
pie: \ boy. employed in a store near the
old South church, discovered a fire in the
basement Of the store, in very dangerous
place. which in 4 few minutes would have
driven The inmates from the store. and
resulted in the loss of thousands OF dollars
worth ofproperty. SpriDging to the wash
bowl. the only implement at hand. he filled
!. with water and THROWING it "po~ -
flames he was in a moment back with
-,,..-..- .-.s4.s....s --..s - 90"
-.It..'l.,-'. 80. ALMOST Dcrore the other in !
mates Knew there was fire on the premi
sy, ~ one OF the salesmen went to find
the cause of the smoke and disturbance,
the lad emerged from the smoke, saying,
- he rushed for more water. Il have got
il most ouI - And soon il was quite out.
and the serious danger over. Not word
Of this praiseworthy action was reported.
Yet it would no doubt have prevented
many other fires If published and COM
meu.ed upon in the newspapers OF the day.
Nor d believe that the boy ever received
a thank YOU. sir from the insurance
company for whom he saved thousands Of
dollars.
\ house far from help from engines took
lire on the roof, and before il was discover
81 a large portion Of one side of the roof
wa> on fire. \ young lady of the house
caught 4 mop and pail of water. and tell
ing the others to bring more water. she
got on the roof. and dashing out the flames
with the mop, soon did for the house what
Mrs Partington could not do with the
Atlantic Ocean. She mopped out the fire
aud saved their pleasant home from de-
>rruciion. The excellent lesson she taught
the world will rrst be taught in this book.
lit had been told in the papers of the day.
many fire would have been mopped out,
many another home saved.