Los Angeles daily herald., 1888-04-20
RIVERS OF FIRE.
Whittier, Fuller & Co.'s Oil
Warehouse Destroyed.
OVER A QUARTER OF A MILLION
Lost in a Few HOurS-Several
Explosions of COmbustible
Fluids.

One of the fercest fires which has
ever been seen on this coast visited
Los Angeles last night and destroyed
property valued at about a quarter Of
million dollars. About quarter af- |
ter eight O'Clock the bell announced
that there was fire in the neighbor- |
hood of the Southern Pacific depot, |
and few minutes after the general
alarm told the citizens that the situa-
ton was considered of sufficient danger
to warrant the calling out of the
whole Fire Department. 1t was only
three quarters of an hour before, that
the heavens to the east of the center
of the city had been illuminated by
the burning of lodging house in the
neighborhood of the Atchison, Topeka
and Santa Fe depot, and the engines
had scarcely returned to their
houses when the sky to the
north was Illuminated, this time by
the burning of the immense ware
house of Whittier, Fuller & Co., on
San Fernando street, opposite the
Southern Pacific freight depot. 1t
was fully fifteen minutes after the fire
was discovered by some of the en-
poyes of the Southern Pacific railroad
before all the engines arrived on the
scene, and then it was too late to save
any OF the contents of the building.
The first i1dica tion anyone had of the
fire was the bursting out of the flames
from the roof of the huge building
The warehouse had been closed as
usual at 6 o'clock, and then there was
nothing in the shape of fire about the
building, nor had there been, and no
satisfactory explanation could be
given as to how it originated.
THE SCENE.
By the time the engines arrived on
the scene it was apparent that the
only thing to do was to keep the
neighboring buildings wet down to
prevent them from catching. The
lead to the belief that the immense
freight depot would catch, and two
streams of water were turned on its
roof. Scarcely had they been turned
in that direction than the roof of the
warehouse fell in and the flames
leaped upward in immense volumes,
and the large quantity of oil in store
gave evidence of its infammability by
the numerous miniature explosions
which began to be heard. The people,
as usual, were curious, and
in their anxiety to obtain a good
glimpse of the fire approached
very closely, some as near as a hun
dred feet. Their curiosity was shortly
driven away by fear, for suddenly
there came the explosion OF what was
evidently large number of barrels
and hogsheads of benzine. The
flames rose fercely, and forth from
the front and back of the warehouse
rolled rivers of fire. The clouds of
smoke and flame which shot upward
were appalling enough and caused the
multitude to move backward, but the
sight OF
RIVERS OF FIRE
Advancing in all directions upon them
caused them to turn and run for their |
lives. Small children were knocked
down by rough men in their eagerness |
to get out of harms way, but the next
minute il became apparent that the
danger was over and the flight was
stayed. The progress of the bufning
oil, however, was not stayed, but it
was confined to the cutters down
which it ran, until it was in danger of
setting other buildings on fire. Then
the multitude came to the conclusion
that some aid could be given. From
somewhere shovels We're obtained.
and half hundred people
dug up the street and threw
the earth on the burning oil.
For a few minutes it appeared as if
their efforts would be unavailing, and
it was considered almost certain that
two frame buildings nearly opposite
Cape Horn would be burned. The |
people who owned them commenced |
to tear off doors and to remove the |
contents, but the efforts of the shovel |
brigade were redoubled and the crisis |
passed successfully. Then came an
other explosion greater than the first |
and again the oil and paint poured |
forth, adding to the already large
streams in the. cutters. This time
the explosion was dangerous, for there |
was nothing overhead to prevent the |
oil from flying, and particles OF it
were
CARRIED HEAvENwARD
By the smoke and flames, only to
fall in blazing drops over the grass in
the adjoining field. The sight of this
caused the slghtseers to again retreat
in quick time, and from that time
forth few outside of the brave iremen
who labored to save neighboring
buildings ventured nearer than several |
hundred feet of the blazing
mass, fo- at this time there
were, only the north and south |
walls standing. The second explosion |
increased the rivers of oil to such an |
extent that it appeared as if there
was no hope of staying its progress.
The shovel brigade, however, were |
equal to the occasion, and began the
construction Of dam, which, when
completed sufficiently to stay the flow.
was fully twenty-five feet from end to |
end, and two feet high. On the east
side of the building there were several
distractions that the oil could not
overcome, and its flow was arrested
about hundred feet from the
river. There was danger here
that several dwelling houses,
which were across the street,
might catch fire, but line |
of hose on this side poured wa
ter on the fronts of these cottages
until all danger was passed. On the
north another line of hose played on
rhe buildings, but on the south a |
large vacant space precluded the idea
of further spread in this direction
unless the burning oil should reach a
distance OF several hundred yards.
Ten minutes after the second
axnlos;on there came q third. which