The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1902-04-30

II started for the fire from headquar-
ters Immediately after the alarm came
in AS went down Quincy, 1 could see
that we had big fire on hand Tremen-
dous volumes of smoke were pouring
from the building. Flames were coming
out of the roof. left the buggy at
Crane street, and sent Fireman Good
rich, who was driving, to the Wolff pack
ing house to send in three-tweiye, a gem
eral alarm.
Hose companies 2 and 8, chemical 2
and the truck We're first on the ground.
We first put No. 3 at a window On the
second floor and No. 2 directed stream
up the elevator shaft from the ground.
As soon as No. 2 arrived sent it to the
head Of the stairs on the second floor,
where the fire originated Nc. l, assist
ed by some of the men from No 2, got
up on the roof of the engine house. As
all the long ladders were in use, the men
climbed the waterpipes from the engine
room to the roof of main building. Short
] " after we got anS-her stream INTO the
| front window on the third floor. It was
necessary to cut a hole in the root and
! finally we put in the deluge pipes, and
| these are responsible for great assist
ance in stopping the blaze.
I think the fire had considerable
Roadway when discovered. and when the
1 department reached the building, the
whole thing was afire. The fire prob
ably originated either from a short cir
/ cult in the electric wires in the ceiling
! of the second floor, or from match
/ dropped on the floor. The seat Of the
fire was in vast quantity OF egg-case
/ lumber stacked clear to the ceiling on
/ the north side of the big lumber room
on the second floor.
"Au the men in the department did
/ splendid work. There was no confusion
CT excitement. The men of No. de-
/ serve special mention, because they be-
haved especially well under most severe
punishment. When the No men burst
open the door into the lumber room,
they faced a veritable furnace They
= .--~T~-. 4 ft0a
was terrific In spite of it all, they
worked intelligently and well, and did
! much toward stopping the Roadway Of
the fire The names of the men who
worked on this No line were Ezra
| Robinson, captain; Assistant Foreman
| Weidlich and Vim. Miller They were
given valuable assistance by one Of the
employees at the building.
L think that probably the damage
was from $4,000 to $4,000. I believe that
/ the floors and ceilings will need very
/ little repairing The outer walls also
| appear to have suffered little damage
The roof win need repairs, and the dam
age to stock is heavy. One Of the prin-
! cipal sources of loss IS the dampening
of the mineral wool insulator, or pack
ing, in the walls of the cold storage part
of the building. When this packing be-
comes damp, it loses its efficiency. Tt
/ VIII be necessary to reconstruct this
part of the building, which was not
| reached at all by the fire.
This fire points out especially the
| need of better trucks for ladders We
| have only one ladder truck, which is 30
| years old. Tt IS all right for truck Of
its kind, but the buildings here have
| outgrown it. We have only one ladder
/ 35 feet tall. In Wichita they have two
| ladder trucks, one of which is an aerial
1t is very dangerous to have only one
ladder truck in the city. We send it to
every fire, and it sometimes goes 80
| blocks from the center of the city It
frightens me to think what might hap
pen if a fire should occur down town
While the truck is off on another fire.
We need a good aerial truck, by means
/ of which we can send ladder up IS
feet into the air. The cost of such a
piece of apparatus is from SO. 900 up
The Seymour Commission company,
of which T. F. Seymour is the head
was for a long time located in North
| Topeka Last November it moved into
its fine three story building on this side
of the river, at Crane and Kansas ave
nue. The building was arranged with
receiving, packing and lumber rooms
in the front part, and cold storage in
the rear. The cost of the building was
$25, 900. The firm has made a speciality
of buying and shipping eggs, and often
sends out many car loads Of this staple
every week It is one of the biggest egg
shipping concerns in the state. Mr..
Seymour viii at once repair the damage
done by the fire. He has shipped out
and arranged for other storage places
for the immense stock of eggs, which he
! has on hand, during the repairs on the
} building.