Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1901-10-12
A HOT BLAZE
In Redington 4 Co.'S. Store,
Silver Street, Watervi|le.
Starts in Basement and Shoots to Top
Through the Elevator.
firsmcn Do Fine lob..Loss viii &c HEAVY. .
Covered by Insurance.

on tnc palt az 'hief Davies, the city
was saved 4 very disa fire. Fri
d3y evening. As Ii IL there Is q decided
| smell of smoke al through the store
| Of RcdinSton 4 60. and the marks of
the flames on two floors.
Eedington 1: Go. occupy the wha,, or
Il large brick block on Silver street
| and the building is pa, ked from base
m"nt to Tooi with the stock usually
found in j first class furniture store.
The hie WIS discovered in tho base
| ment about $50 and at Il time when all
the clerks We're 1T supper with the ex-
rcntinn Of w. w. Brown. An alarm
MS runS in from box 81 hut the cnun-
ciat"r ut The Hose ! house failed to
work and the firerncn had To 20 by the
count. Someone made it a. and the
drivers started up College avenue But
their mistake was quickly discovered
and they tore back down the avenue
and Main street 9t more than the usual
fast clip. Not much time was lost by
the mistake and il was wholly due to
the enunciatOr, so that the drivers
cannot be blamed.
inston block a brisk blaze was found
in the upholstering department in the
basement The north end Of this is
used as a work shop and the south end
for stock. on account Of the material
in the work shop the flames spread
rapidly over that part of the basement.
The dry lumber. excelsior and uphol-
stored furniture was about as good ma
terial for fire as could be asked for.
Although the fire in the basement
was difficult to fight it was not the
worst feature. An elevator runs from
the basement 10 the roof of the build
ing and is located in the northwest
| corner of the building. The fire quick
ly reached this end and went up to the
| roof rs if following a train of powder.
This made combination that could
| hardly be equaiIed for difficulty III
| fighting. There was the blaze i'll the
basement and on the uppermost floor
| of the building. Between We're two
| floors untouched by the fire and packed
with thousands of dollars worth of
goods. The fire in the basement could
| OF course be handled all right. but to
Int any amount of water onto the ton
| floor meant damage all the way down
| through the store. There wasn't much
| time for thinking out a solution to thu
| problem. for the flames We're roaring
| up the elevator Well at a great rate and
| spreading to the roof Of the building.
| The fiFemen went after the flames
| and cha sed them up through the build
| ing. Water could be played up the well
| from the basement and the fire stopped
| there Hut the smoke on the top foot
was 50 thick that the firemen had to
| crawl as close as possible to the floor
| and fight the fire in this way. The ex-
| tingUiShers We're used at this point and
| proved effective. The heat on this floor
Was intense. being too great for com
| fort even an hour after the fire started
| and it had been all eXtinguishcd. At
| was one of the hardest places the fire
! men have been called upon to enter
| for many day. Some were all but
! overcome and all were i'll bad shape
| when they came out. But in spite OF
all tho difficulties The fire was followed
| to the last ditch and conquered before
| it could do mu, damage.
The direct damage from the fire it
self will be comparatively small. Al,
| the contests Of the north end Of the
basement. including a large share Of
| the tools If the workmen. WAS prac-
t,caIIy ruined. The floor timbcrs and
| walls were all badly charrcd. The base
of the elevator well was also somewhat
burned But the flames seemed to shoot
| from the bottom to the top and to cling
there ard burn. The very top OF the
well was burned more than the bot
tom. They spread a little from the top
Of the well into the roof and had to be
dug ont. But on the whole what was
burn, Il will be the smallest part of the
loss.
The heat that poured up the eleva-
tor we'll was so intense on the top floor
of the building that the insulation on
The electric wires was actually melted
and there were long streaks of the
melted insulation on the floor and
furniture under the wires that look
ed more like tra'! of black pant thah
ANYTHING else Some of the furniture
neares; the elevator was blistered al
though il was not reached by the
flames Some of the mirrors away
over to the front end of the building
were blistered An hour after the flre
started there was smoke enough III
This room 10 make the eyes ache badly
and heat enough to make it uncom-
fortably warm.
The only water used was in the
basement although ladders were raised
and .ha hose Carried up on the outside
Of the building and a couple of wlh-
dows smashed 50 that the first flame
on either of the two middle floors
could be squelched as soon as it APP
peared.
Tho cause of the fire is not known
exactly. although the conditions seem
70 indicate that it was some trouole
with the electric wires. But this Is
only conjecture, as no one was III .he
basement or near it when the nre
started.
The loss is also an unknown guam
ti,y The whole store was filled WIN
smoke and all the goods of a charac-
TOP to he effected by smoke were reacn-
ed. Just how much the damage VIII
he. however. cannot be determined u"-
Confined on page %