Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1905-11-01
FIRE CAUSES SCARE
CLERKS PREPARED TO LEAVE IN
A HURRY.
Chief Belts Comment on Ineffective
Water Pressure in Business
Section Of City.

Section Of City.
A number of the clerks of the Post Office
Department were frightened yesterday by
alarm of fire in the building and many
of the ladies prepared to leave in hurry.
A slight blaze was discovered coming from
the desk of Thomas Ross. a colored mes
senger to Secretary Cortelyou, in an ante
room close to the Secretary's office. The
fire was quickly extinguished by the aid of
apparatus at hand by clerks and laborers
near the scene The extent of the damage
was about S1OO 1t is believed the fire was
the result Of the fusing of an electric wire.
Chief Belts Views.
while the fire was incipient one and
was under control in a few minutes with
the hose from the reel in the corridors 81
the building" said Chief Belt to a Star re-
porter this morning, lit serves to call at
tention to the fact that some day there may
occur fire in one of the big department
buildings or store structures of this city
which may not be extfnguished so easily"
Assuming that the fire had not been ex-
tinguished by the corridor hose asked the
reporter, but had spread and necesstated
the calling out of the entire fire department,
how many streams of water could you have
thrown upon the building?"
mot over fourteen adequate streams"
replied Chief Belt, with our present fire.
fighting force and the facilities and pressure
at hand. But We're the htgh-pressure sys
tenn completed and in working order
could have had sixtysix powerful and eff
fective streams upon the building from
within radius of not over 6CO feet. The
vast difference in the volume and the force
of the two methods of extinguishment must
be apparent to any one, as the force of wa
ter from the high pressure is so very much
greater than from steam propulsion.
I'VE can never tell how we are to fight a
fire until we are actually confronted with
it, as the conditions vary SO greatly. AS
Stunning that the entire steamer apparatus
of the department, consisting of eighteen
engines, had been summoned, by reason of
hydrant location and the smallness of the
water mains some of the engines would
have been from 400 to 1900 feet distant
from the structure.
The Need of High Pressure.
at does not take a novice to understand
that water forced by steam propulsion
through this great length of hose doesn't
amount to much when played upon hot
fire. The back pressure in these long lines
of hose. to say nothing of the other we'll
understood objections, makes the streams
small and ineffective. In fact, at large
fires these outlying engines are hindrance
rather than a service, as they exhaust the
water in our small mains and deprive the
really effective engines close to the conf1a-
grafton of their supply. 1t Is the force of
the water which counts in any fire and in
this respect 1 look for grand results as re-
CARDS large buildings when the high
pressure is installed
There Is a cistern at the corner Of Penn
sylvania avenue and 10th street near the
Franklin monument which would have fed
three engines. l have urged that the diam
eter of the pipes supplying this cistern be
largely increased, and that other cisterns
be built in different parts of the city. But
with the high-pressure system I could have
had pressure at the corner of 18th street
and Pennsylvania avenue of at least 200
pounds. With such terrific pressure as
this we could almost batter in walls tear
the cornices off buildings and conquer even
stubborn fires In manner and with a
readiness which would be revelation when
compared with the regulation method.
Saving by High Pressure
"Once the high pressure system is In
stalled In Washington the residents will
wonder why It was not utilized years ago.
1t Is a saving and economical method of fire
protection, the principal cost being its In
stallation; once the mains are laid and the
apparatus purchased, its cost of mainten-
ance is comparatively very small. In short
there Is scarcely a limit to it's protection
Thus, in the fire house next to my own
residence on North Capitol street l could
keep four high-pressure hose carts as
against one piece of apparatus. II the en-
tire department is summoned to one point
in the city, the rest of the District Is I'M
guarded except by the outlying chemicals
which would be moved in. With the high
pressure system we would have enough ap-
paratus and adequate facilities to handle
CONGREGATIONS and still guard the remaining
portions Of the town.
For it's size there Is no more effective FIRE
department in the country than our own,
but it is not up to the present growth of the
capital. We should have at least five new
ern trucks, while the smaller and second
class steamers and trucks in the service
should be replaced with heavy ones.
A Public Test Shortly.
SIT Is my intention to give public test
and practical demonstration OF the efficacy
of the high-pressure system shortly at
Florida avenue and 18th street. to the end
that the insurance business and official In
terests Of the city may see what can be
done even with the small twelve-inch main
which comes down from the Reno reser-
voir on Tenleytown heights. The water has
a fall OF about 415 feet above mean tide
water of the Potomac. This twelve-inch
main should be replaced with one thirty-six
inches In diameter. with lateral supply pipes
of twenty-four, sixteen and twelve inches,
respectively, the hydrants feeding from the
twelye-inch pipes. This network of pipes
should extend. say. from LIST street to 18th
street and from B to ! street northwest.
town adequate protection. and the system
will be Of utility for 2.o00 feet on either side
OF this parallelogram. The hydrants should
be closely placed. at least two to a street
Intersection, and one ought to be In the
centar OF the block. As these hish-pressure
a.