Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1907-12-01
DELUGED WITH WATER
Outburst of Flame From the Upper
Floor.
BUILDING ON G STREET
Hundreds Of People Attracted to the
Square Where the Fire Was
Raging.


story building 1880 G street attracted
the attention of Policeman ]. F. Hart
man of the first precinct as he was
patrolling his beat about 1915 o'clock
this morning. The premises are occu-
pied by E. N. Richards. dealer in wall
papers, and the policeman, seeing that
disastrous conflagration in the thickly
built up business section was threatened,
ran quickly to- box 1S1. in front of the
Colorado building, and turned in an alarm
Of fire
AS the engines and trucks were hurry
ing to the scene there came a great out
burst of fame and smoke from the up
per floor of the structure, lighting up
the neighborhood Dense volumes of
fearing serious consequences, the second
alarm. "22-1.'' was sounded, calling out
additional fire equipment.
In the meantime the flames covered
the top Of the building, and could be
the tall edifice the appearance Of a man,
moth smoking torch.
Chief Belt Of the fire department soon
and Lieut.. Hartley came upon the scene
with the reserve police Of the first pre-
cinct and took command of the streets
the burning building. Chief
the fire brigade and in quick order there
were many streams of water playing on
the structure.
Ladders In Requisition.
Ladders were run up both front and
rear and the hose was hauled up to the
upper floors, as the flames were confined
to the top story. which was said to be
stored full of wall paper. Under the ef-
feet of the deluge of water from the sew
eral engines the bright glare of fire gave
way to rolling masses of smoke, which
filled the surrounding atmosphere. In the
meanwhile hundreds OF people came run
ming to the spot and soon g street between
18th and 14th streets was badly congested
with fire apparatus and humanity :.
The firemen worked brayeiy and d.
rected their efforts to saving the build
ings on either side Of the Richards struc-
ture. Some Of them worked from the
rear alley while others entered the Rich
ards establishment through the side door
AMI brought out upon the street piles of
wall paper and other portable property.
Within twenty minutes after the first
alarm had been sounded streams OF
water were playing upon the burning
building from all sides.
It was regarded as fortunate that Po-
licaman Hartman made the discovery of
the blaze as soon as he did. as it Is
feared had the flames been given greater
headway, they might have spread to some
of the large office buildings in the i'm
mediate neighborhood.
The water from the many nozzles that
played upon the building flooded down
through the lower stories, and is said to
have wrought serious damage to the wall
paper and other supplies stored therein.
AS a result of the deluge the concreted
surface of G street was quickly SUD-
merged.
The fire started in the rear of the top
floor, and it was the opinion of those that
first saw the flames that it must have
originated from crossed electric light
wires.
Loss Estimates.
owing to the fact that the fire was in
such an important part of the city the re-
serve police from the second, fourth and
sixth precincts were called out and added
to those Of the first precinct. Fire Mar
shall Nicholson and Assistant Chiefs Wag-
ner and Sullivan also put in their appear
ance and assisted the fire l2ddies In fight
ing the flames. Chief Belt ordered sup
ply of hot coffee and sandwiches for his
firefghters soon after 1 O'Clock.
ile fire was reported to be under con-
troll at 1:1O o'clock.
Fir, Marshal Nicholson. after making a
tour through the partly burned structure,
placed the damages at about $1S.0o0 on the
stock and about $1,000 on the building.
total of $21 coo. He said the estimate IS
small, as the salvage is great and the
total damages may reach $4,000.
The blaze, he said was confined largely
to tn. rear portion of the third and fourth
stories. No person lived in the house.
The increase of the volume Of flame was
due to the draught from the rear stair
way, which acted as sort of f1ue and
famed the fire into fierce blaze.
People Flee From Their Homes.
A spectacular scene was presented about
/ o'clock, when the flame burst through
the roof and flared skyward The firemen
turned the hose in the direction of the
outburst and virtually flooded the section
whence the flames were issuing. The
people in the neighborhood were greatly
alarmed and some of them fled from their
premises Louis Remund. the jaweler,
next to the burning building. was looked
for by the police in several directions, but
could not be located. 1t was desired to
find him for the purpose of ascertaining
the amount of his loss. Several streams
of water were deluging his structure, but
the damage there could not be estimated,
as no one could enter the building.
Messages were also sent to the home
of Mr.. Richards in East Washington. ap-
prising him Of the catastrophe at his es-
About ! 80 o'clock the fremen brought
out from the lower floors many expensive
draperies to save them from damage by
water and conveyed them to the opposite
side of the building. BY this time water
was pouring in grc at streams from the
upper floors and descending to the lower
and rushing through the doors into the
street.
The amount of the insurance could not
be ascertained.
nAwES 0N TIE PANIC