The Birmingham age-herald., 1903-05-06
Fire at North Birmingham Causes Loss of $l5O,OOO
ONLY PARTIALLY INSURED
Southern Sewer Pipe Building 5urns ts the Ground While Owners Look On, Helpless to Prevent
 Spread of Flames.

Sewer Pipe company al Nofth bFHih8- ham was totally destroyed by fire last night between and 10 o'clock, entailing a loss of about S150.OOO, with only about half that amount of insurance. The plant was the most thoroughly equipped of it's kind in the south and was the only one within 17O miles of Bir- mngham. The company wnicn built if was incorporated April 24. 1902, and nearly year was required for It's construction. It had been in operation only about two months and was not yet working up to It's full capacity. The officers of the company are L. S. Russell, president and general manager; c. s. Bissell. vice president, and J. A. Menge secretary and treasurer.
 An Extensive Plant.
 The industry destroyed consisted of a main building three stories high and seventy-1ye feet wide by BIC feet long and a two-story annex fifty feet wideand 150 feet long These buildings contained a great deal of valuable machinery, which is probably totally destroyed and about seven car loads of green piping which had just been made for the Frisco system and was laid out to dry.
 The machinery included 250-horse power Corliss engine. two immense steam presses, one of the engines of which had a 44-inch cylinder and the other a 4S-inch. and six wet pans in which the clay was ground and mixed. Each of these wet pans weighed about twenty tons
 Origin a Mystery.
 How the fire originated Is a mystery. Three watchmen were employed in the building constantly. it was equipped throughout with fire extinguishers and there was never 8 bit of fire of any kind in the buildings. The boilers are in separate room some distance from the main buildings, and the kilns in which the sewer pipe Is burned are on the opposite side from that in which the fire was first seen.
 The flames were first seen by the watchman in the annex ana were be- yond his control from the start. He states that he had not been out of the room five minutes, and when he returned the blaze extended along the whole side of the building.
 The origin of the flames Is the more mysterious from the fact that they start ed in the room where thers was prac- tically nothing to burn. The annex con- tained the gigantic iron pans which are always full of wet clay, and part of the building was used for storing clay. The clay was dumped Into the building from cars which ran up on an elevated track alongside the structure.
 The burning of the plant is a distinct l n ,haF pH Ia mentable because of the bright pros- poets the concern had. On Monday the officers received an order for l25 cars of their pipe from the city of New Orleans, and from the beginning they have been unable to supply the demand for their product.
 Terra Gotta Piping.
 They manufactured a very fine grade of terra cotta sewer piping in all sizes from four to twenty-four inches in diameter. The buildings were especially well con- structed being supported by 12x12 timbers throughout The fire was so hot that the tracks alongside the building were warped three feet out of line.
 Mir. Russell. MT. Bissell and Mir. Menge were all on the scene and were well nigh heart broken. They were yisibly affected i at seeing the result of their past years labor go up in smoke with absolutely no power to prevent it. There Is no water system at North Birmingham and even fla fire engine had been there 1t could have done nothing without water supply. Water for the plant was supplied from 10000 gallon tank, but this was entirely in- adequate to fight the flames that had made such headway.
 Had Employed Extra Watchmen.
 They had foreseen their helplessness in case of large fire and had made up for 1t by employing extra watchmen and equipping the plant with extinguishers as precautionary measure.
 President Russell stated last night that during his twenty-five years experience in the sewer pipe business he had never heard of but one other pipe plant burn ing, and that was set on fire and the incendiaries had been convicted. The future plans of the company are not known. but meeting of the direc- tors all of whom live in Birmingham will probably be called today to take some action.
 The boilers of the plant, which were bricked in and were some distance from the main buildings, were not much dam aged by the fire of last night. The kilns also, which were on the south side of the buildings. opposite the origin of the fire. were only slightly damaged.