The Birmingham age-herald., 1902-10-10

A portion of the rolling mill of the Re public Iron and Steel compsny was de- stroyed last night about o'clock by fire. which is said to have originated from spark from a piece of hot iron which was being trimmed by large saw. The dam age Is variously estimated from s1o0oO to s5o.OOO. 1t depending on the amount of damage done to the machinery by water and fire It will be impossible to estimate the damage accurately until it can be ex- amined by daylight.
 The portions of the mills destroyed are the machinery room, the bar mill, two guide mills and a portion of the store- house. All of these sections are under the main roof. which is destroyed for Q space about 200 feet square The heavy timbers of the roof have all fallen, and under them is the machinery, so is was impos- sitle to make an examination last night to find the exact extent of the damage
 Fully Insured.
 The loss will probably be fully covered by insurance, as the company has num- Der of large plants for which they have private method of insuring. w. H. Has singer, vice president and district man. ager of the company, said last night there was insurance to cover the damage He estimated the loss at s1O.000, but said he did not think the machinery was dam aged. He said in his opinion the building, pulleys, pipes in the top and the delay in work would be the only losses. He said the loss would be much greater if the machinery was damaged.
 The man who was in charge of the mills last night and who. has been all through the portion destroyed by fire says the machinery will be considerably damaged. According to him. several large shears for cutting the iron, the saw, the roll turning machinery, the turning lathes, emery wheels. drills, pulleys, beltine. steam and water pipes and the telegraph, which Is used to convey the hot Iron, are all more or less damaged. and he thinks 1t will take about $30,000 to repair the loss.
 Something of the size of the loss may be gained from the fact that there was probably 5000 worth of betting destroyed, besides the pulleys on which 1t ran The steam piping is also very expensive and the roof of the building was a perfect network of steam piping and water pipes. II fb cStltHdl6u LIldl lTOIu lOo to ZUU men will be thrown out of employment by the fire and that portions of the mills will be idle for three weeks or a month. The company Is now rushed with orders which necessitate work in the bar mills. and the delay of getting them filled will be heavy.
 Origin of Fire.
 The spark which started the fire fell in q quantity of waste used to clean the machinery and before it was seen the en- tire pile was on fire and the flames were leaping from one ral.er of the roof to another. The fire equipment of the mills was at once put in service. but 1t was unable to cope with the flames. which spread rapidly. Shortly before the fire department arrived the steam and equipment were burned or exploded and it was practically of no use.
 The fire had gained considerable head way when the department arrived, but as soon as the streams of water from two engines were turned on the flames were unable to travel further and the fire was confined to the portion already burning. The fire was in a difficult place for tho firemen to fight 1t, owing to the distance the hose had to be stretched and to the lack of water supply It was possible to get only three streams into play and the hose had to be stretched long distances through the rolling mills to get at the flames. It also required a long line of hose from the water plugs to the places where 1t was convenient to place the en- zines.
 The fire originated between and SIS o'clock and at 10 o'clock there were two streams of water still playing on the smouldering ruins to put out the last em- bers. Only portion of the fire depart ment was used. although nearly all of 1t responded at first. Chief Mullen found there was no place for one of the engines to draw it's supply of water and so he sent it, the chemical engine and one of the hose wagons back to headquarters.
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