Pittsburg dispatch. [volume] (Pittsburg [Pa.]) 1880-1923, 1891-03-13
BUILDING TOO HIGH,
PittSburg Underwriters AverSe to
Insuring the CitY's Lofty Modern
Mercantile Palaces
WITHOUT BETTER PROTECTION,
They Will Ask Councils to Purchase
Heavier Fire Engines or Useful
Water Towers, or
WITHOUT BETTER PROTECTION.
MAKE RATES TOO BIG FOR TALL HOUSES.
Lcsss and Insurance on the Wood Street Curaagstun-
100000 Gone

" 4ASA sSebSIAo1 SuONGN Vic "a
tent of the great Wood street fire the wreck
appeared even more terrible than had the
seething mass of flames of the night before.
The Weldin building is a total loss, with only
tall corners rising like monuments above
the ruins. The front OF the Germania Bank
building is intact, but not floor is left, and
there is a gaping rent in the rear. The only
solid part OF the Reineman building is the
first floor, and all the buildings in that To-
cality are SCARED by flames and water. The
exact total losses foot up S376, 300, and count
ing in the cost of replacing r. q. Dun &
Co.'S records and the damage to telegraph
and telephone wires, the amount will be
swelled to over $4,000 With but few ex-
ceptions, every dollar of the loss is covered
by insurance. The work yesterday was only
that of cleaning up, except in the Weldin
block, where there will not be one cent Of
salvage.
Need of Heavier Fire Engines.
The main talk among the fire underwriters
was the way the fire was handled, aud there
is a general belief that the engines are not
able for the work of drowning fires in high
buildings. Captain Herbert, of the Western
Insurance Company, was among the most
indignant He said:
There was no need for the Germania
Bank building burning. The department
could not get j stream on top of
it. The present engines were made for
three and four story buildings, and cannot
handle fire in the sixth or seventh story.
We need heavier engines, with a greater
pressure, or water towers. At the next
meeting of the Board of Fire Underwriters,
on Thursday we will try to pass resolutions
which viii be sent to Councils, asking for
better protection, and either heavier engines
or water towers. 1t is simply this, if we do
not have some way of reaching high buildings
We will have to put the rates so high on all
buildings above four stories that people will
be discouraged from putting up seven and
elght-story structures"
This same idea was brought out by j.
PRESLEY Fleming President w. G. Nc
Candies, of the Board of Underwriters, and
by representative of James W. Arrott.
Avery Hard Fire to Fight.
James B. McFadden, Fire Marshal and
Secretary of the Board of Underwriters, says
q
The trouble was with the mansard roof on the |
Germania building. 1t was a Veritable tinder |
box.
u want to say" continued the Marshal, "that |
the 1remen did their full duty under Assistant /
Chief Steel. The first thing done was to force |
an entrance into the bank building and carry
line Of hose to the upper floors. A strong |
stream was thrown across the narrow street, |
but the heat was so intense that the |
men could not maintain their position. |
a lrrh IN
fall in great pieces endangerjng the lives of
the men. Chief Steele told me that he could
hardly understand how it was the men escaped
without injury. Why, If the whole Mononga-
hela river had been thrown upon the WeIdin
building it could not have eXtinguished that
Seething furnace.
so far as the burning of the bank building
Is concerned, it was an utter impossibility |
to save it. The street Is narrow, and the fire
men could not get near enough owing to the
heat and the danger from falling walls. l ses
that the Philadelphia Company people say
that the gas turned of, and it is |
true; but it was not done until after |
tie explosion in the Weldin building am NOT
Criticising the employees, for they were promptly
on the ground. In my judgment the fire was |
handled with the highest degree of skill, but |
elements they could not control got the best of
them"
William L. Jones, insurance agent. was
averse to expressing an opinion as to the man
ner in which the fire was handled, because he |
was not upon the ground. OF course there |
were two sides to the question. He had been |
IOlQ IlaL II was nearly an lOur before a stream |
was thrown upon the Germania building, and !
also that the streams from the ground could |
not reach the fire when it broke out there On |
The other hand, he had heard that the fremen |
were at one time fighting the fire from the in
side of the building. He was not in position
TO say which was right, but it was a matter tnat
would bear looking into.
Another Demand for Water Towers.
President Meyran made some strong ex-
pressions about the burning of the bank build
ing. In mis- opinion it was just as safe as the
Monongahela House, when the firemen got
there "The whole mischief" said he was
caused by the fremen pelung away on a build
ing that was one mass of whiring flames from |
the ground floor to the roof, and not directing
a single line of hose toward the bank. What |
we need here is a water tower and more engines
with greater pumpi force"
President Charles Meyran, of the Germania |
Bank, was not willing yesterday to give an esti-
mate OF their loss upon the building A great
deal, he said, would depend upon the condition |
OF tue walls when ii came TO the matter of re-
building. As to the loss in the offices of the |
bank, that resolved itself into the inconyeni- |
ence to which they had been put, aud the con-
scauent inability to do any business.
The Office had been removed into the count |
ing room of the Merchants and Manufacturers |
Insurance Company next door, but it was only |
removal IN name. There was no room there
Tor the books. The bank officers, he said were
negotiating for a nearby corner building, and
within few days they would no doubt be ready
10 resume business.
An tAaullLdtlOu Ol TIE DaQk vaults showed |
that they as well as the burglar proof safes |
bad not been damaged, and that all the books
and papers were in perfect condition The
Same could be said of the safes in all the Offices
il the building. The losses to the tenants were
70 1inly upon furniture and such 9TH things
as might have been in them at the time of the
nre- The Custom House is one of the heaviest |
losers, as great many of the books and papers
were entirely destroyed. Still the loss here is |
not absolute, as duplicates of all the more i'm |
pOrtanG papers are kept on file in the Treasury |
Department at Washington. In cases where |
Importers desire to withdraw articles from |
The importer will be accepted unless 1T he |
deemed advisable to send to New York or |
other ports of entry for duplicates. Many 1m-
portant papers were locked up in the yaults |
and they are intact Until further notice the
0ffice of the Custom House will be in the
United States Marshafs office.
Impossible to Estimate Some Losses.
The loss to the Chamber of Commerce is
mainly in documents and records, which were
stored in the rear room. This is a serious loss !
TO the members. Up on the firth floor H s. |
Stevenson, the artist, had very fine studio
filled with rare and curious things, and of
course nothing was saved He places his money
loss At between $1,000 and $1,000. Sylvio Pezzcli |
also had h4 studio on the top floor
George Rememan saws that his loss will no |
about $4,000. fully covered by insurance He |
takes his misfortune good naturedly and saws |
ne y Is more sorry FOR the people who
10 the inconvenience they will suffer, than for
himself. he hopes within few days to open |
up again. The Americas Club made a narrow
escape. Hadlt not been for their colored DOR. |
ter. who closed the back shutters of the NJ and
n. Insurance Company's Office, the flames |
would no doubt have forced their way into the |
building. The clubs loss is trifling, as is also
that of the insurance company
r. @. Dun Co.'s Mercantile Agency on |
The fourth floor lost every book and papef ex-