Waterbury Democrat., 1902-02-07


 to how the fire department can be
 made as efficient as 1t ought to be witt
 the funds available. The officers anG
 men are all right, but the apparatus is
 not up to times. That's the wholt
 thing in nutshell Some of the mem
 bers think that it would be wise tc
 abandon the idea of building new
 house in Brooklyn for the present and
 spend the $20,000 appropriated for that purpose in purchasing such equipments as are necessary to put the department in position to cope successfully with any kind of fire that might occur
 here. Of course that $2O,O00 could
 not be used for any purpose other than that which 1t was appropriated for un- til after next October, but this would make no difference The manufacture CTS of fire engines and steamers would be glad to accept the citys order for a $5,000 purchase and wait unil October for the money. The balance of the $20.00O could be spent to advantage in
 equipping the different houses with whatever they stand in need of in the way of first-class fire fighting appa- ratuSeS. It seems to be generally be- neyed that Waterbury has always taken more pride in the kind of fire houses It puts up than in the character of the engines and hose wagons it bought, with the result that we have the finest houses in the state and the poorest apparatuses. We have beautiful houses, fine horses, competent chief and assistants, good men in every other capacity, and lots of water, but all these count for nothing in time of a big fire unless We have engines that are able to send water to the highest buildings in the city and deluge them from top to bottom in short order. All the buildings that burned the other night caught from the roofs and it was enough to make man weep to see the splendid efforts of the ffremen to reach the budding blazes frustrated simply because the engines were not what they should have been. Of course they got water to all points of the burning structure. but in too many instances the streams were not of sufficient strength to eXtinguish such fire as we naQ sunday night.
 The amount of work that has been performed during the past few days towards clearing out the cellars of the burned buildings conveys a pretty good idea of what Waterbury is capable of doing in time of emergency. If the weather holds out good for one week longer all the debris and wreckage will have been removed and then it would seem that 1t should not take long for the owners of the land to get the first stories of their proposed blocks In shape so that the merchants could move in and do business as usual.
 While the fire was a great loss in many ways, still it seems to have come as a God-send to others, the common laborers especially, all of whom seem 10 be in big demand, and have so many employers looking after them that they do not propose, as one of them told a Democrat reporter, to take any ''chin'' rom the bosses while this job lasts. Things are rushing and every man who Is able to pitch in and dig and shovel experiences no trouble in finding some thing to do.
 Ine persistent rumor that William Hahn, assistant cook at the Scovill house, was buried in the ruins of that building. prompted MT Elton. trustee on the Lewis estate, to put force of men at work there with a view to find. Ing the charred remains as quickly as possible. It Is said that they had not been at digging over an hour when the man whose body they expected fo unearth at every move was recognized on the sidewalk looking down at them and as soon as this became known op- erations ceased and the gang of men was called off. While men laughed at the humor of the thing, still all praised MT Elton for the motive that prompted him To go to. the cost and trouble of getting the body out of the smoldering ruins, provided it were there. Some body said that Hahn was among the men who were hired to dig in the ruins and went to work with the others, not knowing the object of the search. But this is not probable, for the man is not what could he classed a common laborer and would not be apt to drop the carving knife so soon and take up q pickaxe or shovel Anyway. it seems that the man got out of the building all right and Is alive and in good health. so that it is a consolation to know that no human life was sacri- hced in the great fire.
 The junk men are reaping a rich har- vest and by the time the debris Is all cleared away some of them will have accumulated large stock of all kinds of Iron, wire. copper and almost every thing in that line one could think of.
 Joseph Whittlesey appears to be the first to make a move towards bringing new material on the ground. His block was the one where Mir AsheIm kept his cigar store and if the weather holds out favorable he will have a force of men rebuilding 1t in a few days. The contract has been awarded to G. G. Baker. The building will be several feet deeper than ever before.
 Chief Snagg Of the fire department was active about the ruined structures to-day. and he has been so since the alarm was sent in last Sunday. and ap- peared very busy experimenting the raging of the walls that are still stand ing. Although the fire was destruc'