Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1903-08-31
Gives WaterviIIe Firemen a
Good Chance to Work.
V'gue, Sawyer and Redington Suffer
Loss Of About $4,000.
Fire in a Bad Section and Firenen Do
Good job.

"a at the corner of Spring and Silver
streets, at II o'clock, Saturday evening,
and when the final all out had been
sounded after daylight, Sunday morn
ing, every piece of apparatus in the city
including the fire engine, had been in
action and there probably wasn't more
than 500 feet of dry hose to be found
The total damage is very difficult to
estimate as it will be mostly from
smoke and water, but it will probably
be in the neighborhood of $4,000. This
is fairly we'll covered by insurance.
The first alarm came i'll at II o'clock,
and was for a bad fire in the livery
stable of A. e. Sawyer on Silver street.
When discovered, the whole upper part
of the building, which was packed with
| hay and straw, was a mass of flames.
| Before the first line of hose was in
play the flames We're breaking through
the roof and could be seen over the tops
of the buildings from Main street. 1t
was certainly nasty looking fire when
| the department got into action but it
| was handled very neatly and with good
| judgment. There was a little delay on
| the start, but after the department got
| things moving, everything was made to
count for all it was worth. The build
| ing was rapidly surrounded by lines of
hose, and water was soon being poured
in from three sides.
Chief Dow was out of town, so the
management of the fire fell to Assist
ant Chief Berry, who had the assist
ance at the start of City Marshal
J Plaisted, formerly chief of the depart
ment. They made good fighting COM
bination and few could find fault with
| the way the fire was handled after the
department. got down to business.
| There were some 10 tons of hay and
straw in the upper part of the stable
and the fire had started in this, prob
ably from electric wires as there seems
to be no other plausible cause. The fire
| had worked its way all through this
before discovered and had an elegant
| start. The pressure was excellent and
water was not spared. But the hay
| would burn almost under a heavy
| stream and it was 4 most stubborn
blaze to handle. -.---'- --~.--s
| There is butia space of a few inches
betW cen the east wall of the stable and
the building Of the Vigue Harness &,
| Carriage Co. The stable was an old
building, although in excellent condi-
| ton, about story and a half in height
with a large leanto shed in the rear
where the stalls for the horses were
| located. There was some space over
the horses and this was packed with
| hay and straw.
| The Vigue building is a new one, three
stories in height with the exterior COW
cred with tin. The firemen had to fight
the flames in the stable and keep them
from spreading to the next building,
and were assisted in this at the start by
The tin but later developments make
the value of this very doubtful. There
was no wind and this probably pre-
vented the fire from sweeping a large
section of the city. A dense cloud OF
sparks rose high in the air and burn
ing brands of good size fell all about in
| the immediate vicinity. The show at
the Opera house had just been COM
| pletcd so there was a big crowd watch
| ing to prevent these sparks getting a
foot hold anywhere. A small blaze was
started on the roof of the dwelling
house opposite but a nozzle of one line
was simply turned over and the whole
place drenched in short order. But
with a wind sparks large enough to
start fires would have been scattered
over o large area and a conllagration
might have resulted.
There were Is horses and COW in
the stable when the fire broke out.
Many of the former were boarders and
their carriages were in the front of the
building. Mr.. Sawyer was over on
Main street and arrived just as the
alarm was being raised. He rushed into
the rear of the building where the
horses were and began to cut them
loose There We're many to help him
and horses were never hustled out of
their quarters more rapidly. They
were turned loose as soon as they
reached the yard and allowed to go
where they would.
| Mr.. Sawyer, at the risk of his own
| life, reached the last ones just in the
fnick of time. The smoke was then so
dense that he was obliged to crawl in
on all fours and the fire had begun to
drop down into the stalls from above
| NO one else in the crowd wanted to
risk it on the last ones and they
watched Mr.. Sawyer with much anx-
iety as he cut the last halters He
handled the frightened animals in
great shape, driving them out of the
burning stable almost before they real
lied that they were going. None of
them caused much trouble and every
one was rescued.
| About the first horse to be taken out
was the valuable racer, Aral, and he
was reached just in time. He escaped
uninJured with the others. Meanwhile
the carriages and harnesses were being
hustled out from the front of the build
Ing Practically all of these were
saved, although the harnesses were of
course badly damaged.
Inc owners of horses boarded at the
STAPLE We're among the first on the
! scene and grand hunt was soon in
progress for the missing animals. One
| Continued on page 81