St. Johnsbury Caledonian. [volume] (St. Johnsbury, Vt.) 1867-1919, 1876-01-28
Serious Fire at Fairbanks
Scale Works.
A Providential Escape from Great
Disaster

About half-past five o'clock. Friday
evening, Jan. -. rs Il workman WAS
lIGhtin" the gas i'll the basement room
of one of the Fairbanks scale. shops. "A
lighted cimdcI from The taper he Was
using. fell into II small vat of Japan.
and the intamnahlc mixture at once
burst int" Il flame. filling the room with
gas and SuliocItImg smoke. and
DRIVING THE woKKMEN FROM THE
BUILDING,
some of whom barely escaped. :" dense
and deadly WAS the smoke. An alarm
WAS given immediately. and within Il
few minutes Il stream from Il hNdrant
near 10y WAS playing int" the room but
IN that short time the fire had worked
up int" the packing room. and although
II WAS Thought To have been qucllrd
shortly after the water was let ON, it
proved not To hc the case. and it soon
hecamc evident that there WAS to he
4 IIAED-FoI.G RATTLE
with the iircrN element With all the ap-
pliancr> that could bc brought to bear
upon it. if any of the shops of this great
mammfact"ry were sa>el.
When the fire first began. there WIS
AN attempt to use Bahcock'S fire en-
tim"ul>hrr>, with which the shops are
supplied but no one could live in the
>utf"cating smoke. Then water WAS let
int" Halls Sprinkler. Ga series of per
foIatcd water pipes which were extend
ed about this room.) This dcadencd
the tiIc at once. but as it had already
got into the partitions and was working
up into the other stories, it WAS un-
awaiting.
\ FLOOD OF WATER.
1t was hut II few minutes after it he
came evident that the fire WAS not out.
before streams from all the ny drant>.
two steam pumps aud tworngineS, We're
playing int" and upon the buildings
eleven or twelve fire streams in all.
THE GALE HELPING THE FIRE.
The wind, which had been blowing
fresh from the northwest all day, in
creased in strength, driving the flames
through the long shop lengthwise,
which was soon on fire in all of its four
stories. For nearly an hour there was
Il battle between the firemen and the
fire; at intervals it appearing as though
the contiagratiOn wis to he stayed but
prevailinglN the fire gained on them,
and it became evident that unless it
could he headed off and stopped at the
bridge, which connects with the shops
the other side of the river. it WAS
ALL BAY WITH THE SCALE WORKS.
To tins end were great efforts directed.
Besides five or six streams of water
brought around in front and against the
fire. hundreds of yards of neH carpeting
were brought from the store and spread
upon the roofs of the s;,wshop, boiler
house, engine-house and paint-shop,
and this Competing was kept saturated
with water passed in pals. For more
than an hour was the course of the fire
DISPUTED IN THE MOST PERSISTENT AND
HEROIC MANNER
at this point, until providcntially there
was sudden calm the wind ceased
blowing. and the flames were beaten
back and held to the three shops already
on fire. \ fire wall" of brick. between
these shops and the wood shop, reach
ing from the ground to several feet
above the roof. no doubt aided largely
i'll stopping the flames ut this point.
THE BATTLE ELSEWHERE.
While these efforts were being made
to keep the flames from extending
southwark and eastward, the two fire
engines and Il steam pump were play
ing upon the west side of the burning
buildings. from the river, endeavoring
to save the large warehouse and ship