The Evening critic., 1885-02-10
DAMAGE FROM FIRE,
TOO Few Engines ana Too Much
Delay In Turning In Alarms.

Delay I'm Turning In Alarms.
The immunity from serious damage by
fire Of late years, the efficiency of the de-
partment and the. promptness with which
fires have been extinguished have given
confidence and feeling OF safety that is
scarcely justified.
An official of the Fire Department stated
10 a CRITIC reporter to-day that recent OK
periences have demonstrated that tho dan
ger Of large conhagration in this city Is
greater than is generally supposed.
"In the first place" said he, "our Fire
Department is too small We have only
seven engines, and they are not iudiciously
distributed through the city. Then we are
having numerous delays. in getting fire.
alarms over the wires. This latter iliculty
may result very seriously unless promptly
and cfectually remedied.
There has been trouble on the wires
during the last four or FIVE fires, and In
several cases valuable time was lost which
resulted in loss Of property"
In reply to question from the reporter
asking him to explain what he meant by
saying that the department was not dis
tIibuted to the best advantage, and why it
was too small as a whole, he said
"You will SEQ by looking at that map
that the entire eastern section of the city
is one, No. ., about one hundred feet east Of
& street North Capitol street. Now, as the
eastern section fthe city Is nearly as large as
the western section, it don't require much
intelligence to see that 1t Ia neglected and
subjected to the mercy Of tho flames.
at Is true that it is not as thicky built
up and the houses arc not as grand, but there
are great many of them, and there are in
situations that are filled with inmates. Be-
sides poor mans bovel Is as dear TO him as
rich mans palace"
He enumerated the Insane Asylum, work.
house, jail, Naval Hospital, the WalIach
and other largo school buildings, Provi-
dence Hospital ana many other large build
ings that needed particular protection from
fire, and remarked that great damage aud
loss of life Is more than probable to occur
in the event of a fire in them, in spite of
the Fire Department. He pointed out sew
cred points in the city limits which were
nearly two miles from the nearest fire on
| CINE, and said that after an alarm was
struck II would take the nearest engine lif
| teen minutes to get to the scene OF the fire.
The woIkhouse and Jail were enume-
rated in this list, and several large school
| houses and hospitals that held hundreds of
| persons were also situated at distance
| that would require ten minutes rua to
reach them by the fire engines. Union-
town and the Insane Asylum we're consid-
| cred by far in the most danger from fire,
| the Insane Asylum being about three and
| half miles from the nearest engine
| house.
In explanation Of his remark that the
| department was too small, he said that in
case of large FIRE in any of the large
hotels seven engines could not control it if
| it got much headway.
His attention being again drawn to de-
lays in getting the department on the
ground where large building is burning,
| he said there was more to take into consid-
Grafton than anybody but an experienced
| fireman would think for.
"a comparatively small portion of the
| building seems to be burning" he con-
| tinued, land it appears that department
| of even small proportions should extiu-
| guish the flames. This is where tho mis-.
take comes in. While the fire has been
burning, the entire house is being filled
| with gases that care generated by the burn.
ing of wood work that is painted and oiled
and vanished, and when this gas becomes
heated to a certain temperature, it explode'
through the entire house, aud the whole
structure is then ablaze.
| Everybody who has seen q large hous'
burn has noticed that 1t appears almost
black up to certain stage of the burning
and then the flames suddenly light it M
and burst forth from the doors and win
dows. This is caused by the explosions oil
gases that are formed and exploded by the
fire. Now, it is important to get to fire
before the structure is filled with these
gases, or soon enough to cool the upper por'
ton of the building by flooding it aud pre-
| vent these explosions"