The Ottawa free trader. [volume] (Ottawa, Ill.) 1843-1916, 1876-04-01
BLAZES.
How they acted on Monday Night.

How they acted on MONDAY Nbsnt.
Tho Bo.rd Of Education were to hold "a meet
,,o NJ IN, High School building on Monday
oyening and few OF the members had already
arrived They had been talking of Insurance,
and had learned that policies for $1,000 on that
very building had expired in February last and
had not been r"nrWcd when one of them per
ceived little wreath OF smoke issuing from
very urasual place in au upper corner OF the
room He Immediately inquired what that
smoke was. The janitor visited the basement 10
investigate On opening the door he perceived
the woodwork above the furnace Oh hre, ana 'haI
it had alre ady worked its way up to where IL
was discovered in the room above An ehor'
was made to extinSuish it without giving AL
alarm, but that was found 10 be Impossible, ana
an alarm WAS raised. The steamer responded al
once but numerous things consplreu 10 cause
delay: the managers were informed tha' IL ""e
the fourth ward school building for whlch they
started, only to fnd after terrible ana EXHAUST
ing pull up the La Sale street bridge, Ihat they
were on the wrong road. After getting back and
plantinr the machine, the hose men found cif-
scultv not only on account of the frightully
muddy roads, but were further delayed by an ac-
cident to Ed. Moore, who got his fingers oaaiy
hurt in unreeling the hose. Before the nose
from the first cart was connected to those OF the
second, the water for some unaccountabie rea-
son came rushing through the hose, which also
caused delay. BY this time, though the fire had
burned slowly, the building was nearly envelop-
ed in flames, and the best apparatus, under the
management of the best iremen in the country,
could not have saved it. 1t was to late, and be-
sides, water forced through 1900 feet OF hose to
a Y and then divided into two streams, cannot
be made very effective after fire has secured
such start. That the iremen did as well as
could be done under the circumstances is un-
questionable. They saved part OF the building
and extinguished the flames that on two or three
occasions caught on the roof OF the Consrega.
tional church-there was nothing more to DO
The wind aided them, blowing as it did from the
east by northeast Great showers OF sparks were
carried into Washington square, though many
were borne much farther, some even falling
across the cut" Mr. j, g. Gay, for one, made
narrow escape from loss Peiccivng the sparks
falling thickly around his premises he examined
and found his barn loft door open, and on going
to shut it entered just III time to extinguish q
large bDhTh ludI lau IdiiCu int anu "oaAN hS'N
set fire to the barn but for his timely presence.
The building was erected in 1855, and was o
rood, substantial structure, old style, but good
in every way except the villianous fault OF having
the furnance under the stairway, fault that
could not be remedied after the building was up.
On two or three former occasions fire had brok.
IN out in the same way, and we are not surpris-
ed at the present calamity. Parents ought to
be thankful that the event happened as it did,
for it was only question OF time. The loss is
$4,000 or $4,000 on building and furniture, with
"a $50 insurance on both, in the Northwestern Of
Milwaukee.
This fire confirms exactly what we argued last
fall about the water supply,-that reservoir OF
water was absolutely needed in the vicinity OF
Washin gton square. 1t is the universal opinion
that cis,ern within block of that school house,
at which the steamer could have been set and
got 10 work in 10 minutes instead OF an hour (or
whatever the time was would have saved the
building with loss Of at the most $4OO. WIN
! two or three artesiap wells in the immediate
neighborhood and hundreds OF gallons OF water
running to waste every hour, II seems ine1cusa'
Vie that nothing has been done to secure water
supply. The penny wise and pound foolish VI
policy should be at once abandoned, and then
the citizens won't have so much cause to pitch
into the iiremen, who work hard all night ane
90 home in the darkness aud mud and get kick
ed at last for their pains. II the firemea could
build estern in front Of every house in which
fire was raging we have 10 doubt they'd do it
but not being at present omnipotent something
! must be done for them.