Delaware gazette and state journal. (Wilmington, Del.) 1883-1902, 1900-09-13
FIRE DEPARTMENT. REPORT
'Ex-Chief ,Sasse Concludes His
OFFICIAL Duties.
HEAVY LOSSES DURING THE YEAR
Two Calls Received From
Other Places.

Two Calls Received From
Other Places.
On. nj honorable Blaze and Several othsrs
of Large OBSERVATION-DISCLOSURES Of the
Firemen Appreciated Intcresting sta
tistics and Suggestions.
George w. Sasse. former chief of the Fire
Department, who immediately preceded the
present chief, John r. Welsh, Thursday
submitted to City Council his annual report
of the department for the year ended May
9th last, which was the end OF his term. IT
was tho 32d annual report of the department.
nndthe second one submitted by Mr.. sasse;
The usual number of copies IS to be printed
for distribution in this and other cities.
ALARMS puRIsG THE YEAR.
The report shows that during the year tho
department responded TO bell or gong alarms
US follows: First, 81; general, g.. There
were 90 telephone, 81 still and two telegraph
alarms, making q total of 1850. There were
IS more telephone alarms than during. the
| preceding wear. 0fthetotal number Of lS9
| alarms 100 Of the fires were extinguished
| exclusively by the use OF chemicals. SIX
false alarms were turned in. most OF which
were due TO persons maliciously tamperina
l
| Strenuous efforts were made TO break up the
practice, by having notices posted offering
| $40 reward for the apprehension OF the
offenders. One arrest was made: but lack
Of corroborative evidence resulted in a fail
| ure of conviction, t4-
our-or-TowSsrIREs
The first telegraph message was from
Laurel, June oath. 1850, II was received at
2,13 o'clock in the morning and stated that
| the town wns ut the mercy of flames and re-
quested immediate assistance. Without de-
lay the chief requested the Pennsylvania
| Railroad Co. to get cars ready for the trip
and notified the Phoenix and Weccacoe COM
panies. III response to his request the COM
| panies were soon in readiness, with 40 men
and LOCO feet of hose. The apparatus equip
/ ment and men were at the freight house in
a short time, in command OF First Assistant
Engineer Joyce, but owing to the scarcity of
flat cars. there was some delay in getting
away. and the start was not made until 3.62
o'clock. Once on the road, however, no
/ time was lost, and the. distance, 901 miles,
| was covered i'll 100 minutes. including the
necessary stops on single.track road. The
train was drawn by engine No. s3, with
William Mason as engineer, Elmer Collins
as fireman and w. L. Townsend as CON
ductor The train consisted of three fiat
cars and one day coach. The firemen ar
rived in time TO render some assistance, but
It is regretted that circumstances prevented
| tUPlT hTTlNdl an Dbur ehTlltT. us
property could have, been saved. The COM
panies were iii service 10 hours. The con-
Migration laid waste the greater part of one
| of the most thriving towns onthe Peninsula,
causing loss of slT5.000. with an insur-
ance Of s3S,000. Since the fire stand pipe
has been erected and fire company organ
ICED in Laurel.
The second telegraph request was from
Bear, on December 9Th. 1893, when a chemi-
cal engine was asked for at 2.3S o'clock In
the morning. The chemical engine of the
Washington Co. was detailed for the work
and loaded on d fiat car, but just as the train
was about to start message was received
countermanding the order and the engine
returned to quarters. One of the principal
buildings III the village was destroyed AND
at one time the railroad station was in
danger.
After this fire the chief arranged with tn,
Pennsylvania Railroad Co. for loading fire
apparatus on cars in the future at Front anc
Poplar streets. instead of Fourth stree
freight house, thus saving much time, as
, rule. Ef
LOSSES DURING THE YEAR.
The losses during the year were greatly ii
, excess of the losses during several years i'm
mediately preceding. which, however, wa
not due to any ineificiency on the part o
the Fire Department.. During the sam,
period many of the great cities of the coun
try. for some unaccountable reason, had tn
largest fire losses In their history. In VIII
mington the aggregate loss was 1884, 773. 22
with total insurance of so,695. 04s. 70. tn
/ loss being S345f per capita. as compare,
with loss of $50, 44y.64. or S1.07 per capita
for the preceding year. The most notabl,
fires were as follows;
October 4th, 1899, \. Blumenthal and
Co.'s morocco factor y.,,......,...-...$ T9,440.2
! November stu, 1899. Diamond State
Steel Co.'S spike mll....,.....;;....;.; 5o,O551
January 10th, 1900, Delaware Hard Fibre
I fibre +. Il
Grand total for three fires sI97, 1854
! This leaves a balance OF SCI, OF. 81 for tn
q remaining lS6 alarms.
A MEMORABLE FIRE .M
One of the most memorable fires in til
i history of the department was that at til
8 Old Ferry mills. which occurred early o.
/ the morning of November Sth. 1899. Pror
] erty to the value of $4,000. 900 was in DANCE
OF the time of the arrival of the first piece @
3 apparatus on the scene, The building whic
4 was on fire was constructed of corrugate
Q iron and heavy timbers. and so great wa
% the heat that the Delaware truck and tb
8 hose wagon of the Liberty Fire Co. wer
badly blistered, and Duke, the Liberty Co,
4 veteran fire horse, was severely scorchet
II receiving an honor mark which he sti
Q bears. The burned mill, which was know
II as the spike mill, was SCI feet long and il
10 feet wide, and 800 feet were burued. Upo
the arrival of the Fire Department all etfor
I were concentrated upon certain point. an
y by tearing the corrugated iron sheets ava
n and making openings for the streams, I'll
u building was practically cut in two an
: within 80 minutes the lire was under cor
30 troll. Upon the arrival of ii. T. Wallac
" president of the steel company, he remarke
that he felt sure the entire plant worst /
destroyed. As a matter of fact, the fire WI
confined to comparatively small space an
the apparently Impending calamity W,
r averted. sett
CASUALTIES.
n On April 4th, Stella yenn, aged IA year
of No. lll3 French street was burned
10 badly that death resulted in few hour
Her dress ives ignited while she was stan
"a ing near stove. 1t is gratifying to sta
that there were no losses OF life among Il
membership of the department while
fires and only q few accidents, none
N which were serious, On January lSt
while responding to an alarm from box N
Z. n. Lew, the chiefs horse, fell, renderil
him unfit for duty for three months. Z
In December eth, 1893 at fire in stable c
;" Thornton street above Seventh, two hors
!, persisted.
DEPARTMENTS EFFICIENCY ATTEsrRp.
ar The following testimonials attest IL
n efficiency of the department:
- ''Pullman's Palace Car Co., Wilmingtc
81 shops, June 26th, ls99.-Mr. George v
Sasse. Chief Wilmington Fire DEPARTING