The Montgomery advertiser., 1904-02-25
FIRE IN A WAREHOUSE
SERIOUS CoNFLAGI.ATIoN MAR
 RoWLY AVERTED.
Flames at Standard Company's Plant Caused Firsmen and Officials Some Uneasiness-Loss
 Estimated at $1,0o0.

A serious confiagration was narrowly averted in the warehouse of the Standard oil Company in North Montgomery yes- terday morning at 10:15 o'clock when fire broke out in the cellar of the building and spread with alarming rapidity over the entire interior of the structure.
 The warehouse was filled with bar rels and crates of oil and the fire was rendered extremely dangerous to the fire fighters on account of the risk of ex- plosion. While the fire did not reach the oil stored in the barrels and tanks. the wooden barrels and the floor saturated with oil burned fiercely for some time and before 1t was entirely extinguished, entailed a loss estimated by officials Of the company at S.00. The building, outside of a few holes chopped in the floor by the firemen. was not damaged much, the damage to the stock being accountable for the serious | loss sustained.
 The fire caught under the floor of the | building and in the front part of the | large room, which is 75x3O0 feet in dimen- sion. The origin of the fire Is not known but 1t is believed that 1t was caused by sparks from one of the three or four locomotive engines which were standing on the railroad tracks near the ware house.
 I company was quickly called and put to work fighting the fire on its discovery. | Meanwhile, the fire department was notified by telephone. The fire crew, with the aid of chemicals and a line of hose from the water plug in front of the building did excellent work in keeping | the fire under control until the arrival of | the firemen.
 When the city fire department arrived | k6a h. | floor of the building was so filled with
 smoke that entrance by the firemen was
 made impossible, the smoke being so | close in the room that window panea
 were burst out of their fastenings.
 For ten or fifteen minutes. the fire
 men worked almost without any show
 of effect on the blaze. but after getting
 three streams on the seat of the fire
 under the floor. the ferceness of the
 flames was materially abated.
 After conquering the spreading rush | of the fire. the remainder of the work
 in extinguishing 1t was not difficult.
 The fire department received a teIe- 1 phone alarm of the fire at 10:30 o'clock
 and arrived at the fire after 1t had been 1 burning about fifteen minutes. This late alarm to the department was due to a defect in the fire alarm system. c. R. | Glass. Assistant Agent of the Standard oil Company said last night that at the
 beginning of the fire he attempted to give the alarm by means of the fire alarm box on the premises, but was unable to open the box with his key. He declared that he worked with the box for about fifteen minutes in his attempt to send In the alarm and that he did not get the box open until Chief Browder of the Fire Department arrived and opened 1t for 1 him.
 l
 men had returned from the fire in North Montgomery, a telephone alarm sent | them to the house at 720 South Mo Donough Street. A chimney burning out was the cause of the alarm. There was | no damage.