Arizona republican., 1908-09-24
CL0CK-W0RK ACTION
 OF FIRE DEPARTMENT
It Seemed To Have Mislaid Its Rab- bits Foot on Tuesday Night.

There were two very curious fires Tn this community yesterday morning about 2:3O o'clock, though one was outside the city limits. In connection with the other the Phoenix fire depart ment suffered the greatest embarrass- ment of its history in a series of ir- ritating things. for had all gone smoothly the fire would have been eX- tinguished with but small loss. All that saved several adjoining properties was the fact that there was no wind to spread the flames. The burned build ing was d brick structure with a wood en kitchen. situated on South First avenue a block and a half below the electric light works It was owned by a nonresident named O'Neill and was occupied by Mrs. Anna. LybrOOk, her sister and her son. Occupants Of an adioininG house discovered the fire and say that when they first saw 1t 1t seemed to be outside of the corner of the wooden kitchen and had there been water and buckets handy they could 1 have put it out. Instead they ran to 1 give the alarm and lost precious time l that was not repaid with interest when i the department arrived. Mrs. Lybrook | and family were asleep until aroused | by neighbors and most of their effects were saved though were somewhat 1 broken and were later considerably in- ! jured by water that went over the | burning building
 | The alarm came in by telephone and ! the bell was rung by someone at the 1 fire house For some reason d box 1 in the second ward was sounded in- 1 stead of the right box in the third ward. The chemical responded in good | time and drenched the house but the ! fire had spread to such an extent the 1 chemicals resources were exhausted before it could be extinguished, though i the acid had the effect of making the l roof burn very slowly.
 i The hose cart made about the first 1 fall-down in its history The little | gray team is enjoying its well earned vacation in the pasture a team of sOr- i rels serving in it's place. They are young and nervous and generally start i with a lunge. They lungcd this time ! before the chain had dropped at the ] door, Driver Kilgore in pulling back snapped line and the contact of the ! horses with the chain unlocked their collars. That necessitated hitching up | again and repairing the line. Then
 when they reached the fire there was .l further confusion. II is said that some
 one pulled out the wrong end of the hose first and it had to be reversed before a proper attachment could be 1 Ia fn ha mt fG u1Cn said
 that the fire in the engine died during the run and had to be rekindled, mak- 1 ing another delay, so that altogether it
 seemed an age before water was turn
 ed on and it must have been at least l twenty minutes by the clock. The
 building, due to the chemical, burned
 slowly and it is likely the walls are
 uninjured
 The other fire started about the
 same time in the billiard and pool hall
 of George NJ. Bobst near EastlalSc
 park. a large wooden barn-like struc-
 ture containing six billiard or pool
 tables, a $50 motor, a show case. some
 tobaccoes and other goods and furnish
 ings. It was beyond the city limits
 and the department made no effort to
 go there Anyhow it already had all
 it could attend to at home. The loss was total except for the insurance
 which was S950 on the tables and S20C
 on the building. The origin of the fire
 is unknown. The theory is that if il
 can be established that it started in the
 north end of the building it might have
 been due to the electric light appar-
 atus. Otherwise it cannot be account