Daily press. [volume] (Newport News, Va.) 1896-current, 1905-07-16
QUEER ORIGIN OF MANY
DESTRUCTIVE BLAZES
In One Year More Than $50 Fires Occurred
in London Which Could Not be
Traced to Any Logi=
cal Source

The last return issued by the. Lon.
don Fire Brigade shows that of 3,iOO
fires which occurred during 10000,
there were no fewer than ESQ of
which il was impossible 10 ascertain
the cansc. Truly, OF all the losses tn
which man is subject. there is no
other ot which the origins are so
strange aud at times so mysterious MS
those of fire. Could. for Instance. any
stranger irony of fate he imagined
Than that Il fire engine should Itself
cause fire? Vet such case actually
occurred in Worcestershire some three
years ago. \ Worcester Insurance.
company. having decided To convert
lis engine from Il hOrSn-tlrnwn vehicle
TO Il motor. had almost completed the
work when there came II call To Il
farm lire at kcmpscy village. The on.
glne was already in some sort Of run
nlhS order, and was sent Oft AT once
Unfortunately the funnel had not yet
boon fitted with II spark protc so
mo engines course along the road re-
semblcd that Of Il comet with Il long,
fiery tail behind it, The first victim
OF this firc-cauSing fire cXiinpuiSher
was wagon full of straw which il
mot in lane and set fire to. This
was cNtinSllishcd, and the engine hast
cncd forward, only To cause II fresh
conilarration in the shape of two way
side rioks. Eventually the water tube
OF the nnlucky motor burst, ami the
engine came to complete stan,lstill n
couple of hundred yards from the
| scene Of the original outbreak. which
by this time had practically burnt it,
self out
An odd but perfectly true story came
| recently to the knowledge of the writ
or OF how the electric railway. better
known as the Tw0pcnny lube. nearly
| burnt house down It. happened
| thus. a fireplace in one of the bed.
rooms of a house. deep beneath whose
foundations the tube burrows its way
! through tho London clay. is fitted with
one Of those blowers consisting of n
sheet of iron inside the crate. which
can be raised ar lowered to increase
the drausht. This blower rests on n
series Of iron notchcs. A fire having
hccn made in the crate one cold after
noon, the servant went downstairs.
| leaving the blower up. Along came n
heavy train i'll the tube below, causing
such vibration as to shake the blow
or off its notch. Tho fire in conSc-
Quencc blaZed up furouSly and set the
chimney aliSht. burning SCOT from the
chimney fell upon the wooden cover
| OF Il watcr-ianli on the roof and. next
thing the inmates knew Il very pretty
blaze was in progress. Happily il
was seen in time. and, there being n
plentiful supply of water nj hand, OK
tingrishcd before it could do much
damage
Not very long ago Scarborough Cot
tagc hospital, had very narrow cs.
cape from being burnt down all
! through the fault of an impudcnt pair
OF sparrows which had constructed
their usual untidy nest in a gutter on
the roof A spark from n chimney
| fired the miscellaneous mixture of
dried grass and feathers which formed
The sparrows' home, with the result
that The fire brigade had to be hastily
summoned to cXtingush the resulting
contlagration. Still more strange is il
somewhat similar incident reported
| from GainsborOugh. a spark from Il
passing engine fell into an owls nest
In hollow tree near the railway line,
and after smOnldering for some time
the whole tree burst into n blaze The
hollow trunk quickly burnt through,
| .
which were partly destroyed before
help came.
| Mention Of burning trees calls to
mind the singular manner in which a
magnificent, Scotch fir one of the nm
est pieces Of timber in the woods of
| Blawith, Grangc-over-Sands, came to
an untimcly end. Rcd ants had long
had their home At the base OF this
stately monarch Of the forest. and
had in the course of years constructed
an immense anthill at its roots The
summer of 1901 was remarkable in
Lancashire for periods of fierce heat
followed by shorter spells of copi0us
rain. Though no one actually saw what
took place. subsequent examination
rendered it certain that during re-
turn OF heat after Il downppmr of warm
rain spontaneous combustion was set
zip in the antheap. with tho result that
the roots Of the tree and the lower
part of its stem were so completely
charrcd that the giant collapsed and
| fell to the ground. May not spon-
taneous combustion of this kind ex.
plain many of those forest fires In
other countries. which have been vnri,
Omsly attributed to lightning, Ia the
suns rays being focused through bits
Of broken glass, or To the attrltlon OF
two dry bough by winds?
Rats arc unpopular creatures at
best: hut perhaps no one breads them
more than members of fire insurance
companies. One might imagine tina;
the rats appetite for intlammablo
DrOycndor would sion short at candies