New-York tribune., 1907-01-03
SMALL MAIN: BIG FIRE.
ENGINE BOILERS GO DRY,
FiTen1e7n ct West SD Street Blase
Greatly Hampered.

The big fire in West sd street early yester
day morning, as told in the late editions Of
The Tribune, imperilled the whole of the
middle West Side because of the lack of an
adequate water supply. For half an hour, while
nine buildings blazed. there was not enough
water to feed the boilers of the engines Had
it not been for this lack of water pressure the
fire apparently could have been confined to the
stable wherein~it started. AS it was, before the
blaze was brought under control two buildings
were destroyed and seven others were nearly
ruined.
When the land engines got there thew were
useless. and it was not until the arrival of the
freboat Zophar Mills, with the entire North
River 10 draw from, that the firemen had any
hope Of coping successfully with the blaze
Then the New Yorker arrived. and the two boats
lines from the pier at 53d street TO the fire
600 feet away. These lines of four-inch hose
were all that stopped the fire after it had done
nearly 100000 damage. The normal pressure
in the small mains is about Is pounds, but
when the engines were hooked on the 12-inch
main in Tenth avenue two and three engines
had 70 be put TO a single hydrant to get enough
pressure TO DO any good.
For twenty minutes got no water at all :"
said Deputy Chief Binns after the fire Two OF
the engines had TO draw their fires. for they
could not get water enough to feed their boilers
and we dared not risk blowing up Finally, after
hunting at all the hydrants through 53d street.
We did get water in Tenth avenue and doubled
IN and got streams TO the fire.
Before adequate water pressure was secured
small fires had obtained foothold in most of the
tenement houses around the blazing Ormonde
stable. When the water finally came the house
at No. 42I far gone that it could not be
saved. and the top floor of No 425 was burned
out. The houses on the south side of the street
were afire. but saved before much serious
damage had been done. Those in the rear. facing
in 54th street. also were saved after hard
fight.
Lieutenant Henry, the supervising engineer of
the Fire Department. whose duty it is to look
after the engines at great fire. was strong in
his condemnation of the failure of the water
supply. He declared that never before had he
seen such inadequate service from the hydrants
Later it improved somewhat, but it was the fire.
boats. he said. which had saved the situation.
Chief Binns, after he had had time TO think
the situation and look up a few statistics
said that IN his twenty-five years experience he
knew Of only TWO fires where there had been so
inadequate service. and the men had been so
dangerously delayed and hampered. One. he
said. was The Commercial Advertiser fire, in
Fulton street in 1896, and the other was the
wicke fire. in 1901. There was no water at these
fires and several lives were lost and great prop
erty damage was caused.
when I got to the fire this morning" he
said, the first alarm men were standing around
and could not do anything because there was no
water at all. Ten minutes after the fire started
there was absolutely no water. The only
gines that got any water were the fourth and
fifth alarm engines, which were stationed at n
distance in Tenth avenue and these engines
were the ones which put out the fire.
IF there had been water at the start. the fire
would have been confined to the original build
ing. and at the worst would not have been
more than a three alarm blaze"
Chief Binnss face is practically one big bis
ter from the wave Of flame which struck him
He stopped to nurse it for awhile, and then
attacked the Water Department without re-
serve
The situation is wholly inexcusable on the
part Of the Water Department" he said I'VE
have had several fires in that district in the
last few years. where if had had a sufi-
cient amount of water at the start there would
have been little trouble in extinguishing them
but much damage resulted from the lack Of
water.
This situation has been known to the Water
Department for some time and if they had
done their duty they would either have laid
larger mains made provision for a higher
pressure on the first alarm. 1t is nonsense TO
say that the fremen trying to work one
hydrant. The hydrants in 53d street can accom-
modate only one engine. The Water Depart
Inent when it is caught is always saying that
its the other fellows fault, but it isn't true at
this fire"
The Water Department seemed to think that
II was the Fire Departments fault in not know
ing that there was only a 6-inch main in 53d
street, pipe that could be drained in a few sec
onds by q, single powerful fire engine. Commits
sioner OBrien refrained from making any state
Inefit, but Deputy Commissioner Goodwin de-
enough in West 53d street take care of any
ire There should be pressure of forty pounds
IN that district, he said. but he did not explain
why there was only a pressure of about twenty
two pounds. He referred everybody 10 Chief
Engineer De Earona.
Mr.. De Varona sent one Of the department in
Epectors 10 the fire 10 report conditions there
This report was given to Commissioner O'Rricn
In the afternoon.
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