The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1899-08-21
TRAIN LOAD OF HAY BURNED.
CENTRAL WAREHOUSE AND con-
TENTS DAMAGED $1,000.


ed From Spontaneous Combustion.
Fire broke out at o'clock this morn
ing in the southeast section OF Central
Railway warehouse No. 3. on the Ocean
Steamship Company's wharves. The sec
ton of the warehouse in which the fire
started was Quilted and its contents, con-
slsting of seventeen carloads of hay. were
completely destroyed. The damage is es-
timated to be between $500 and $4,000
PatroIman Parish of the Ocean Steam
ship Company's force. patrollng the
wharves along the river front. noticed
what he thought to be smoke issuing from
warehouse No. g. lie hurried closer to-
ward the blaze to make a further invesu-
cation. at the same time making for box
81. Before he had reached the box the
flames began to curl and climb above the
roof of the warehouse ana the policeman
turned in the alarm.
Within a few minutes the northern sec
ton of the fire department, consisting Of
engine companies Nos. ], . and 8, re-
sponded. and in quite as short time
there were half dozen streams playing
upon the flames. Immediately after the
arrival of the first engine a second alarm
was turned in from box 81. at the corner
of the warehouses, and to this alarm
brought out engine companies Nos. and
g. It was due to the prompt response
and accurate and determined work of the
department that what threatened at first
to be a disastrous connagra ton involving
in its path of destruction the entire series
of three warehouses that are connected
together. was confined to comparatively
narrow limits and the loss kept wen with
in $4,000. A careful and conservative es-
innate places its total at 5000 less than
the sum named.
The work Of the department was under
the charge Of Senior Foreman Mouro
Chief Mcguire being absent The fire fight
ing did nor suffer from the absence of the
chief, but the work went on with the vim
and determination and vigorous resolve
with which he seems to have inspired his
men.
The warehouse is closed 10 the front and
opens upon a court in the center. The
flames when the fire apparatus arrived
were 10 be seen eapng up over the edges
of the Enclosure, while clouds of black
smoke rolled upwards
The heavy iron doors that closed the en-
trance were beaten down and streams of
water turned upon the mass of flame that
burst out when an opening was effected.
The contents of the warehouse consisted
of hay exclusively and its highly inlam-
mabe nature made quick work for the
fire nend. Every now and then bale would
burst and forcing out the mass Of hay by
which il was enclosed would send out also
q dense stream of while smoke, that blind
Ell the fire workers and prevented their
getting closer into the interior of the
building.
As soon as possible an entrance was ef-
fected through the door Of the section adj
joining that in which the fire was raging
and a number Of streams were carried
through into the enclosed area From this
POSITION they were played directly upon the
flames and were used TO much greater ad-
vantage. A dozen streams We're soon in
play and within half hour the fire was
under complete control
For a time it looked as though the
flames would communicate to the other
sections of the warehouse, which were also
used for the storage Of grain and other
merchandise of like character, and thence
to the other warehouses in the series. that
adjoined each other. Warehouses Nos. .
and are used and occupied by Bohan &
Derby and Joseph Z. Inglesby, respect
lively, and these were packed with many
thousand bales of cotton. Should this val
liable property have once been caught by
the tongues of fame that everywhere
sought and sometimes seemed to reach
the sky, the loss would have been worse
than destructive.
Though nothing is definitely known as
10 the origin Of the fire, it is thought that
il was product of spontaneous combus-
ton. When large masses of hay are
stacked together, some part of il, wet from
exposure to the elements at some period
of its trip to the point of storage, the
heat generated by its close contact pro-
duces combustion not infrequenuy and
the absence OF any other plausible ex-
PLANTATION leads to the belief that this was
the case in this particular instance.
Indeed, no other explanation seems pos
sible, as there had been no one in the
warehouse, with the exception of the
sA'NS S"NuI ddN hlBnt. It
would appear. therefore, that the fire
could have teen started by no other agency
than the heat generated by the contact
Of the bales of hay the one with the
other.
The Waterman on duty at the ware
house was inside when the fire started
and It seems remarkable that it should
have been some one from the outside
who was to give the alarm Why the fire
should have been suffered to reach the
Stage It had reached when the alarm was
turned in does not appear and It would
seem that an alarm might have been
sounded earlier had the Waterman been
as prompt as his duty required.
The hay in the warehouse was owned
by various commission md hrol..,....