Gloucester County Democrat. (Woodbury, N.J.) 1878-1932, 1907-05-16
CITY ECONOMY
The Bake Fire and water Pressure

The Bake Fire ana wafer PRESSURE
Mr.. EDIToR-
Noting the article in your issue for May
2nd, on "City Economy" / find under the
head of Water Pressure" you state: AT
the Bake fire the hydrant was SO foul that
the water could not flow, no matter what
the pressure y In the letter of Council
man Cattell, in the Times of May 7th, he
states: AT the dead end, 70 doubt, it is
worse than anywhere else, yet after the
water was Oh the Bake FIRE one half hour
the pressure was the same.
& The writer, who is in position to state
Facts, would like to add his mite to this
part Of the controversy. The Bake fire
took place on the evening Of April l1th,
glSe9. An alarm was sent IN Immediately
latter the discovery Of the fire, when it was
yet an inoipient blaze, but owing to mis-
understanding of signals, it was nearly 10
minutes before the fire department. had the
hose attached to the plug at the corner OF
Glover and West streets, and water turned
on, and for fully fye minutes our iremenI
were hampered by reason of stream OIL
mud with pressure sufficient to give them
a stream carrying fully two feet from theI
nozzle; gradually the stream increased and
after a short time the plug was properly
flushed and gave water sufficient to event.
ually drown out the flames. 1t is true
that the pressure was the same at the end
of half hour after the water was on the
fire, ? as Councilman Cattell states, but it
took valuable minutes after the Departments
was ready before the water was available.
The Bake property has dead end i'm
mediately in front Of the house and careful
Investigation Immediately after the IRE
showed that the plug at the corner of Glover
and West streets had not been flushed for
months previous to the fire, in fact one
Statements being that the plug bad not been
flushed since the middle Of the summer
previous. The water pressure was so very
poor that Councilman Best alta meeting OF
the Council shortly after the fire said: We
have been tiamed enough about the Bake
ire, let's do something and accordingly
the 4-inch main along West street was taken
up and an s-inch pipe laid. In addition to
the foul plug another obstacle was found IN
the shape of a piece of board lodged across
a bend at Lincoln street, showing poor in
spection of the work, and which shows one
of the reasons why the Bake fire was SO
great in loss. and certainly some one was
criminally responsible for the loss occasion
ed in that fire, for the City of Woodbury.
was not getting the service from its paid
water department. employees whose duty it
is to care for the water mains and keep the
supply ready for fire use as well as for home
consumption.
The water supply Of Woodbury. is good
enough if proper care is taken of the facil-
tiles, and certainly if the water is causing
the corrosion Of the pipes, it is strange that
this phase Of the question should now be
agitating the member Of the Third ward,
when charged with poor water. The main
trouble is not poor grade of water, but
carelessness in keeping the supply free from
contamination, and proper flushing OF the
plugs to remove foreign matter from the
pipes.
By an examination Of the plan Of City
Surveyor Carter it will be noted that the
corner Of Morris and West streets is about
I60 feet above high tide level, and to she
top Of She Bake house required pressure
sufficiently strong to carry an additional 55
feet, and this was had after the foreign
matter had been flushed from the pipes and
plug.
Il would appear that latter the horse is
stolen'' we are asked to flock the stables
but the solution OF the problem is not to
put in an expensive system Of artesian
wells, but 70 do away with the dead ends
which would not be so very expensive. and
TO make it the duty Of the Superintendent
Of the Water Department. to submit writ
ten statement to the Council each month
wherein is showen. under oath, that each
fire plug has had proper flushing. This
would be the means Of improving our water
supply, not in quantity, but in quality and
at the same time would not cost our tax
payers one cent Of expense. KY.
Camden'S Proposed \. n. c. 4. Building.
The Y. M. C. A. fever is at white heat in