The Pacific commercial advertiser., 1897-07-02
EARLY MORNING FIRE.
Five Buildings Two
Men Injured.


At about 2 a. 10. yesterday. the fire
whistle blew, summonfng the engines
and hose carts TO the corner OF Queen
and Aalakea streets where barrel OF
oil and scrapings was found blazing
near the fence inside the lot occupied
by T. H. Davies & Co.'S stables. a
short time only was necessary TO ex-
tinguish the flames Had the barrel
been anywhere near the barn where
the hay is kept, disastrous results
might have been looked for.
The fire was discovered by officer
Kaaua who had the beat which includ-
ed the stables. While walking up and
down he smelled fumes as of burning
oil and, upon investigation, found the
smoking barrel. Wishing to communi-
cate with headquarters he started out
for the telephone exchange but before
arriving there the barrel burst into
flames. He turned in the alarm as soon
as possible and the engines did the
srest
The second fire was in long shanty
just mauka of No. 3 engine house on
the Eva side of Maunakea street, and
the result was a burning to the ground
Of this, as well as a bad scorching of
the two shanties on either side.
At about 4 a. m. one of the boys of
No. engine company who was on
watch at the time, heard the noise of
Scuffiing somewhere in the vicinity and
stepped out to see what the matter
was. Arriving in the street he found
that fight was going on in one of
the houses up the street toward Kau-
makapili church. The noise became so
loud that some of the No. men were
wakened by it. The boy walked up
the street and before long, saw flames
creeping out of the long shanty re-
ferred to above. He ran back to the
engine house and touched the button
which brought all the firemen down
to the lower floor.
Engineer Barnhart rushed to the
telephone and told Central to turn in
the alarm. In the meantime, one of
the men told him that the fire was
close by the engine house. He ran out
to ascertain definitely and then went
back to the telephone again, telling
Central the exact location. ''All right"
was the response.
The chemical engine was rushed out
upon the street, and hose was soon
flames now half way across the street.
One tank was exhausted and still the
other companies of the fire department
did not turn up. Thinking this strange,
Engineer Barnhart ran back to the en-
gine house and asked the boy if the
alarm had been turned in. He an
swered Yes, sir, the first whistle has
just blown 1t was about ten minutes
after the alarm had been given to the
chemical company, this being calculat-
ed by the time it takes to exhaust one
tank
Nos. 2 and were on the scene soon
after the first whistle blew and it was
learned later that Central had failed
to turn in the alarm when told to by
Engineer Barnhart. 1t was also learn
ed that Central telephoned twice to
No. 3 to find out the location of the
fire after Engineer Barnhart had speci-
fically mentioned the place.
At all events, when Nos. 2 and ar
rive. on the scene they made short
work of it and, prevented, even in the
face of stiff breeze, the spread of the
flames to the buildings opposite and
next to them.
No blame for the slowness of arrival
of Nos. and 8 can be placed with the
The whole responsibility
lies with Central who failed in some
way to connect.
Senior foreman Joseph Clark of No. |
2 was quite badly injured while work
ing on the fire He had rushed up a
flight of stairs of the shanty makai of
the burning one to extinguish flames |
that had crept to the roof He slipped |
and fell upon an inch pipe. Passing |
his trousers, it produced in
juries that will keep him confined in |
the hospital for some time to come |
Frank May of No. 8 was not injured in
the slightest degree. In fact he didn't |
evei have no fall.
The origin of the fire is attributed |
to the fight mentioned in the beginning |
of this article and which, it is sup
posed caused the overturning of an
oil lamp.