The San Francisco call. [volume] (San Francisco [Calif.]) 1895-1913, 1895-09-10
EXTENT OF THE BLAZE.
Ten Business Houses and Fifty
Chinese Dwellings De-
Stroyed.
FIREMEN BAFFLED BY WIND
Further Spread OF the Flames Pre-
vented by Tearing Down Build
ingS in Its Path.

VACAVILLE, CAL, Sept. 9.-The ex-
tent of the damage in last nights fire was
even greater than prophesied in The
CALLS dispatches, and Vacaville now pre-
sents most desolate appearance.
From all accounts it is thought the fire
was caused by the explosion of lamp in
a sleeping-room on the lower floor of the
Central Hotel at about 10:45 O'Clock last
night. The building being entirely of
wood, the fire soon had a good start. P.
Brodbeck, one of the proprietors, who hap
pened to be in the barroom, gave the
alarm to the guests, and fortunately all
were gotten out, although some had very
close calls and lost all their belongings
One heroic incident must be credited to
Charles Summer. All the guests were out
of the hotel but woman and her little
child. Mr.. Summer. learning this,
rushed into the building and found them
in the hallway. They seemed thoroughly
dazed by the fire and smoke which was all
around them. He carried them safely to
the bottom of the stairs and got them
beyond harms reach.
The hotel was owned by A. G. Bcwles of
San Francisco and leased by Brodbeck &
Klose. AS soon as the few persons that
were on the scene were sure the guests
were safe an alarm was turned in, but as
an unusually heavy southwest wind was
blowing, the hotel was a seething mass of
flames before the fire department was out.
The fire quickly spread to D. K. earns
livery stable, leased by Sparks & Robbie.
This, being full of hay and straw, in
creased the heat and in spite of the heroic
efforts of the firemen the flames commune
Gated to Bowles Opera-house, J. NJ. Burns
saloon, De Long & Millican's restaurant,
J. Snyder's saloon and Charles Weheis'
saloon. Here the fire was checked by tear
ing down Rambo's building and putting
on plenty of water. The remaining two
buildings on the block were saved.
During all this time part of the depart
ment had been laboring to keep the fire
from setting back from the hotel against
the wind. Here A. j. Dobbins' law Office
and Mrs. Regan's variety store were de-
stroyed before it could be checked, and
considerable damage was done to Neibling's
bakery.
AS all the attention of the fire depart
ment up to this time had been given to
Main street in order to save what it could
of this business portion of the town, the
fire had got big Roadway in Chinatown,
and it was with the greatest of difficulty
that the seething flames were brought IN
der control. The burned portion covers
nearly three blocks. There were ten bust
ness houses and about fifty Chinese houses
burned. As all the buildings were of
wood, the damage will not be over $50, 900,
with the following insurance: A. c.
Bowles' hotel and opera house, $500;
Peerless saloon, $500; Brown, Craig & Co.,
$500; Lewis building, $780, J. NJ. Burns,
$3.50; J. Snyder, $3.50; Underwriters Hotel
furniture, $500; J. Snyder's furniture and
fixtures, $3.50; Wilson's building, $1100;
Lewis building, $500; Neibling's stock,
$500; Regan building, $500; Mrs. Regan's
stock, $500; Newport's building, $1,000.
None of the houses in Chinatown had
insurance, and the loss personally to the
Cinnamon cannot be estimated with any
degree of certainty. Some of the burned
portion will be rebuilt with brick in short
time