Los Angeles herald., 1906-12-30
Eiremen Work Hard
to Com bat
Flames
Fire Confined to Three
Stories of One
Building
Loss Estimated at $500, o,ooo-Fire Be-
Iieved to Have Originated by
Spontaneous Combustion
in Third Story

A fire which broke out in the third
story of the five-story modern brick
building occupied by Cohn, Gold
water e. Co.'S wholesale mems furnish
ings house at 216-220 North Los Ange-
les street last night resulted in an al
most total loss to the contents of the
warerooms and burned out the interior
of the structure from the third floor to
the roof. Early this morning when the
fire was still raging the nearest esti-
mate that could be made of the prob
able loss to the building and stock of
goods was given out by Goldwater &
Cohn. who stated that the damage
would approximate $3OO,OOO all entirely
covered by insurance. For a time the
entire district was threatened.
At o'clock this morning Adolph
Harmanson of engine company 10 fell
from the fifth story of the burning
building and was so badly injured he
is not expected to live. Harmanson is
ladderman and was standing m the
window of the fifth story when a
stream of water was accidentally
turned on him. The force of the water
knocked him from his footing and he
fell to the ground. He was taken to
the receiving hospital and given at
tention... but is not expected to live.
Harmanson made his home with Cap
tain McMann at 233 West Twenty fifth
street.
The origin of the fire is not known,
but it is thought by the proprietors to
have been due to spontaneous combus-
ton. A clerk in an adjoining build
ing who was working late stated that
he heard a noise like a muffled explos
ion Immediately before the flames
were seen, and it is thought that spon
taneous combustion took place among
pile of woolen blankets and comfort
ers that were stored in the central part
of the third floor where the fire is sup
posed to have started. Another theory
of the fire is that 1t was produced by
the crossing of electric wires on the
third floor.
Officer Sees Blaze
James Platt, special officer, was the
first to see the blaze, and he turned
in the alarm. He said that he was
standing in front of the building about
three minutes when volume of smoke
and shooting flames burst from the
third story front windows. He ran to
his private alarm box not half block
away and the fire department was on
the scene within a surprisingly short
time.
Excellent work was done by the fire
department in eXtinguishing the fire,
although the men were greatly delayed
in getting their streams of water on the
blaze. When the firemen were pulling
line of hose up ladder to the third
story the hose became uncouped in the
middle and the torrent of water that
rushed out of the remaining joint
nearly threw the firemen from their
positions on the ladder A great deal
of the time was consumed in readjust-
ing the hose and during the delay the
fire gained formidable headway.
Until early this morning the fire
burned with relentless fury. About II
O'Clock it was thought the flames We're
we'll under control, for the blaze was
smothered in great black clouds of
smoke. But narrow flames incessantly
leaped up through the volumes Of
smoke and kept the firemen battling
against the enemy. Until nearly II
O'Clock the fire had been confined TO
the third and fourth floors, but near
midnight these floors burst downward
under the terrific weight of the soaked
dry goods and the tons of water that
flames instantly rushed upward with
a new impetus and within an hour
had burst through the roof, filling the
heavens with millions of ascending
sparks and flushing the sky with a
blood red hue. 1t was a glorious sight,
though horrible, with the billows of
smoke that rolled skyward from the
depth of the inferno, like the volume
of smoke from a cannon.
Water Tower Effective
The water tower was used with much
effectiveness and probably did much
toward preventing the fire from spread
ing to the adjoining wholesale build
ings. 1t was thought that the ad-
jacent buildings would be burned dur
ing the height of the fire, but the fire.
men kept constant streams of water
pouring on the partition walls and pre-
vented the blaze from being commun'-
Gated any farther. The walls between
the burning building and the adjacent
ones were fire-proof and eighteen inches
wide
A large amount of merchandise on
the lower floors of the Cohn e. Gold
water Co.'s building We're saved from
destruction by water and smoke
through the prompt and thoughtful
,action of Patrolmen Bartlett, Humpn-
reys, Joe Murray of the Merchants
Fire Dispatch and James Platt of the
Ford Special Patrol. These men rushed
into the Warerooms and dragged out