The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1896-08-22
THE INDICATOR Our OF ORDER.
The Reason the Fire Department
Didn't Go 20 the Indian street Fire.

I works yesterday morning created great
deal OF comment. the insurance men re-
/ garding it as additional evidence Of the
bad state OF affairs IN the FIRE department
Chairman Grayson OF the FIRE commission
/ realized at once the blackeye that It would
/ give the department II the occurrence were
not satisfactorily explained. and he spent
the afternoon in company with Fire Chief
Mcguire investigating IT, He has not con-
cluded his investigation, and the only ex-
I PLANTATION he is able 10 offer is that Of
| Electrician Claiborne, who holds that the
failure Of the alarm 70 sound was due
70 a slight imperfection in the big indica-
| tor at headquarters.
The trouble was due. Mr.. Claiborne stat
/ ed. to the failure of one Of the rotary
| wheels, or the ''redempt' Of the indicator
10 respond. The indicator is a very deli
/ cate piece Of machinery and requires to
be in perfect order to receive the alarms
sent over the wires He had noticed. he
said, on two or three occasions, when
/ test alarms were being given. that there
was a slight hitch in the Indicator, but
this is the first time il has failed TO sound
I an alarm. OF the $50 tests which have
| been made during the year there has not
| been single failure TO properly report
| the alarm on the face of the Indicator.
I That the arrangement was only temporary
/ was shown yesterday when tests were
/ made from each Of the three boxes from
/ which unsuccessful attempts were made
1 to send in the alarm for the Indian street
/ fire, and each time the alarm was prompt
| ly received at headquarters. All three
| OF these boxes, Nos. 50, 81 and 81, are on
the same circuit, known as No l, ana
| anything affecting this circuit would az
| feet all the boxes alike.
Chairman Grayson has instructed the
| electrician to make a tour of the entire
/ circuit to-day and to make a thorough
examination for the purpose Of ascertain
/ ing il there is any trouble on the circuit.
The failure Of any Of the three boxes to
sound the alarm would naturally create
/ the impression that the wires had been
| tempered with, but Electrician Claiborne,
| and also Mr.. Grayson and Chief Mcguire,
! are positive that such was not the case.
| The indicator at headquarters was put in
| seven or eight years ago and was the best
/ manufactured at that time by the Game
| well Company Improvements have been
/ made since however, and the indicators
/ now turned out by the company are
/ claimed TO be absolutely infallible II Il
| is concluded that the present indicator is
unreliable a new one of the latest style
| will be put in.
AS shown in the account Of the fire In
| yesterdays Morning News, the failure
| Of the alarm to sound threw the fire de-
| partment badly out Of joint The fire
| men at No. 2 engine house say they were
| notified of the fire shortly after 2 o'clock
| by young man named Leonard. Fore
man Campos and his men turned out
/ promptly. On the way to the fire they
| passed Fireman Frain of No. a. who was
off duty, who called out to Foreman Com
pas that no alarm had been turned in
| and asked him If he should send one in
| He was told to do so, and ran to the near
est box, where he found Policeman Bar
| rett turning in an alarm.
| Thinking this sufficient he returned to
| the fire. When II was seen that no alarm
had been sounded Foreman Compass in
structed Frain to telephone headquarters
| He did this from the Brush Electric
| Light works and then went 10 No. 2 en-
| CINE house. where he again attempted to
turn in an alarm, but found the system
would not work. As soon as the telephone
alarm was received from the Morning
News, which was some seconds before
that from any other quarter, the firemen
| telephoned No. engine company, sup
posing the men at the latter place were
! still in ignorance of the fire
! A request came In about this time to bring
| down the hose wagon with a supply of
hose, which was sent. The fire was well
under way when engine No, , reached the
| scene and when the hose wagon arrived
the fire had about done it's work
Chief Mcguire was asked why the de-
partment did not turn out when it was
known the fire alarm telegraph did not
work. He replied that the foreman acted
in accordance with the rules.
when fire is reported by telephone"
he said 'it is taken for granted that 1t is
not of a serious character and the COM
pany nearest the fire is notified to look
after it. If the foreman Of the company
responding finds that the fire is serious it
is his duty to send in an alarm at
once Compass did this. He could not be
held responsible if the alarm did not sound
and the rest of the department was not
called upon to respond until an alarm was
sounded"
Might not the result have been very
serious If there had been general fire in
progress?" Chief Mcguire was asked.
In such a case he replied, the fore
man of the company arriving at the fire
should go to the nearest telephone and
call for what assistance he needed. The
rule is ironclad. The lack of such a rule
would cause us a great deal of trouble,
while case of the kind you mention is
very rare"
There is no blame to be attached to the
department for failing to turn out" Chair
man Grayson said. THE entire fault was
with the alarm. We will see that the
trouble is remedied. even il it costs us
considerable money to do So"
Mr.. O'Donnen estimates his loss at about
$4,000. He is insured for $780, placed
through J. F. Wheaton g. Co.
The report that he was preparing to
sell out and remove to New York, Mr..
ODonnell said, is an error
II shall resume business" he said, Gust
as soon as my loss is adjusted and l can
get a new equipment. I have a great
deal of work on hand and a large amount
in prospect. The fire comes at a most
incOnvenient time to me-"
There is no way of getting at the origin
of the fire, as the entire building was
ablaze when the firemen arrived. Mr..
| O'Donnell thinks it must have started
among the patterns, as this was about
the only combustible material for it TO
feed upon. The building was a very
himsy structure, being corrugated iron,
sheathed with plank inside. Pretty much
everything in the building was ruined,
and Mr.. O'Donnen considers his machin-
cry a total loss
LOCAL PERSONAL