New-York tribune., 1899-02-14
sFIREMEN UNDER A STRAIN.
haso REST IN FOUR DAYS AND TIME
OFF SUSPENDED.
A,.,x r,ers STARTED BY EFFORTS To THAw
prPKs-YEsrERDAy NEARLY RECORD
rop AIARMs-sEVERAL REscUEs.

p1pEs-YEsrERDAy NEARLY RECORD
s. FOR A1.ARMs-sEvERAL REscUEs.
None Of the city departments suffered more
severely from the storm OF yesterday ana the
IpoId weather preceding It than the Fire Depart
;r,sn, Nor were the discomforts and sufferings
", the situation borne with less complaining oy
l,hs enonloves OF any other department Fire
s-on,roissioner Scannen was on duty at his night
headquarters. at Broadway and Forty-seventh-
q, when he was seen by reporter. He SAID IL
,ras the worst experience the fremen or the CITY
mad ever had In the forty-eight hours ending at
s o'clock yesterday morning lo4 alarms were
responded 10 by the Department in Mahha''""
and The Bronx. This was exceeded only on one
dav IN the history OF the Department-JuF T.
1876 Most Of the fires were in dwelling-h houses
and no loss Of life resulted the damage TO prop
er,v being in most cases small. owing 70 'he
rrornptitude of the Department and the utter uls-
regard Of the weather with which the hrefheH
worked The majority Of the dweling-house
fires were caused by inJudicious efforts on 'he
rart Of househoders 10 thaw out theT i'o]e"
water pipes Commissioner ScanneH salo ne oe-
sired TO warn the public to perform functions %
.h,s sor, with The greatest care As p small fire
st the present moment might easily lead 10 d DIX
one The hrennen have had little rest for the last
.xeeched It's height chief Bonner was forced to
issue an order suspending all time OF for the
,re.e,, This order although needful. worked
r,uch hardship as many OF the iremen we're a.
We, exhausted by their work OF the last Few
days -.
snecial rrecautions were taken by the Depart
,oent 10 meet emergencies. The superintendent
- ot horses was ordered 10 have extra animals h
i,ao6,ness in the stables in West NineuetA-s'.
r,e,,ee went % fires in The upper part Of the
Town drawn by three horses abreast ana
,ourth horse ridden ny fireman IN the led"'
cracial attention was given 70 having the ny
.1rarts NJ the CITY I'm such shape that they "ou'u
ire available u needed
Tho extraordinary cold frequently se' on H"''-
,,rat,c and pneumatic fre-alarms IN business
buildings - the city. and companies resp'h'''
70 several alarms. In one or two cases COM
iranies had 10 go 70 fires that We're more '''"''
mile distant owing to the fact tna' hea'e' Yum
,ranies were engaged At other fires.
The most serious fire of the day occurred al =
o,c,oct I'm the morning. at No. 4o4 West Four
,sen,h-st when TWO ,,omen-NIrs. s j. Lawson
.rd Mrs Plnkey-had narrow escapes rom
death A saloon on the ground hoor was s u.s. w,
cred 10 be on fire by a caretaker' ne IoICeu 'l'9
r.av into the apartments Of Mrs Lawson an"
isrousod her and Mrs. Pinkey Inc W"dnc"
ifusod 10 believe that the place was on hre, anu
the caretaker ran 20 turn In an alarm, W1en i.
,ho Nren1eu arrived they entered the DuuuIhS
Sroro The rear and found the two women escap-
ing clad only I'm their nightgoWns Ihey We're
taken into n neighbOring house ana caIed loi'
The loss on the building was $1,000
Tho 0ren,en had a hard time In the afternoon
fighting a two-alarm fire I'm a wooden once
building and big frame stable at One-hundred-
and thirty -saVenth-st. and Madison-aNe, owned
NV Rahr & Sons truckYnen. where forty horses
were kept Several men got the excited horses
out safely. but the building was destroyed. Inc
strong winds famed the flames The loss IS
estimated al $3 600 1t thought the IRE
Btarted from a gas stove.