The Daily bulletin. [volume] (Honolulu [Hawaii]) 1882-1895, 1891-06-02
Government KEROSENE Ware
house BU2lGd.
Sublime Spectacle Under the
Noouday Sun
Forty Thousand CHsea ~ oil EV ~
esced in Flame and sm0ie.

! house caught lire at ll:2O O'Clock
this forenoon. Within an hour the
building was a raging volcano, The
contents of 40, 600 cases Of kerosene
oil, worth 500, 900, went up in flame
and smoke. There was little water
for the fire brigade to use, and there
was no use in using any on such a
fire. So far as quenching it was
concerned, it would be like emptying
the city's water supply into the vol
cano of kilauea.
When the liremen quick y as usual
responding to the alarm arrived, the
fire was in sheds outside Of the main
buildings. Fed by freshly bursting
tins of oil and exploding drums OF
| gasoline, the flames :" ere with an aw-
full roar licking up the material of the
sheds and adjoining fences. Even
the earth at the base of the building
seemed to be on fire.
For five minutes or so the sputter
of bursting tins Of oil gave warning
of danger. Then came the more
fearful detoDations Of gasoline drums
exploding. Reports as of a distant
bombardment made the inner circles
| of the gathered crowd fall back. A
moment later drums went hurting
through the air, when people on all
sides took precpi(ate flight for safe
standing ground. One drum hit the
corner of Mr.. John Magoons back
| porch, carOm d and struck the main
building with terrific force. Another
one hit the shingles Of the same
house at the caves, bounded over the
house and struck a tree yard or
two from Queen street. A third one
was shot 250 feet from the warehouse
to Queen street.
When the fire started in the sheds
at the corner of the warehouse to-
ward the Kakaako beach, the work
men who were employed at the
place managed to roll out a few
drums of gasoline from the opposite
corner. This reduced The danger so
much, besides saving the fluid. 1t
was only a matter OF minutes when
the interior of the warehouse was on
fire. The flames shot out from the
crevices of doors and windows.
Tongues of fire darted from the veuti-
lating flues on the roof peak. The
burning oil oOz2d out all over the
walls, making an appearance of the
very stones being ablaze. Straight
up in the calm air the vast pillar Of
smoke rolled, and every rift made
by zephyr revealed wreaths of
orange-colored flame, shooting up
hundreds of feet, wrestling, as it
were, with the black bill ows of re-
leased carbon. 1t was an awe-inspir-
ing sight. At the end of an hour
the slate and corrugated iron roofs
of the building had crumbled in,
giving free scope for The play Of the
Ipcandescent elements. Fiercer and
more awful looking the flames leaped
skyward, competing more success
fully for space with the dense vol
umes of inky smoke.
Meantime the tiremen were play
ing, with for some time rather sickly
streams, on the dwellings on the
opposite side of South street from
the warehouse. These houses were
in much danger IRON the intense
heat. From the nature of the com
bustibes forming food for the flames
there was not the usual menace of
flying sparks and brands At the
outbreak of the fire the many Portu-
guese jewellers ON Queen street,
facing the first burning end of the
warehouse, were seized with panic
and Immediately prepared for hasty
flight. Their fears were, however,
soon Gained by assurances that they
were not in imminent danger either
in life or property. The Hook &
Ladder Company brought their truck
shortly before one 0 clock, and pull
ed down a small wooden office at the
corner of the warehouse opposite
kawaiahao lane. This was to pre-
vent the scattering of sparks in the
populous ncighborhOod when the
shauty took fire as it must have done
in few minutes from the heat.
The Kerosene warehouse is a stone
and brick M-roofed set of buildings,
about 200 feet long 10y 80 wide, the
stone section being the larger and
older part, the brick an extension
made within the past Two years. 1t
contained when the present disaster
overlook it about 40, 900 cases of
Kerosene OIL, worth at wholesale
prices 5000 and $l20,0O0 at re-
tail. Most of the oil brought by the
vessels FOohng Suey, ). {. Allen, 5.
u. Wilder and Centennial was stored
In the warehouse. 1t was fortunate
for the trade that the steamship Aus
tralia was over half an hour OF lcav-
ing for San Francisco when thc fire
started, so that the dealers in oil
were able to send forward orders for
fresh supplies. The retail price has
jumped To Sc to $40 case in cOnse-
quence Of the fire.
The principal losers were a, fol-
lows; Standard Oil Company, 2l,00O
cases; IL. llnckield x Co., hoo to
1900; Pacific Hardware Co, $50;
Wing Wo Chan x Co., 600 or 700;
Choug Long kee, 400 or BOO; Hop
Hing, 400; Hawaiian Hardware Co.,
500. Ne,elalol hc luIlooll-d,a!lug
houses are simply cuus.auc,- of the
Standard. The ru.N Insurance b. goa
The Ianhn IIALaNurn luMnnnN. >.