Los Angeles herald., 1908-12-28
FIRE UPON IT'LL
STREET CAUSES
$4,000 LOSS.
OCCIDENTAL HOTEL GUESTS
FLEE FOR SAFETY
TWO FlREMEN INJURED, ONE, 1T
is FEARED, SERIOUSLY
Flames start from Explosion in Base
ment Of Decorating Company and
Are isolated Only by Heroic
Efforts
N BxPLosIoN in the basement q

A N E&PIOSlON IN the DdSSIHeHt OF
u the quarters of the Thayer Dec
- Grating company. 43O South Hill
street, shortly before o'clock yester-
day afternoon, started a fire that re-
suited in losses aggregating $4,000 to
the occupants of the three-story build
ing at 42S to 434 South HILL
The ground floor of the building Is
divided into four rooms running the
length of the building. The office, par
lor and writing room of the Occidental
hotel are at No. 42S and embrace the
entire second and third floors
The Thayer Decorating company oc-
cupied quarters at 430 and carried a
stock consisting Of wall paper, lace
curtains, tapestries, paints, oils and
furniture.
Keniston & Root, dealers in surgical
supplies. occupied the store at 1872 and
the Western Realty and Investment
company B. c. Gardner, l.. v. Schenck
w. L. Malone and w. W. Loomis had
offices at 434.
The cause of the explosion is not
known. One of the proprietors of the
decorating company was at the store
at / o'clock and everything appeared
to be all right. About 2:45 o'clock the
hotel clerk heard a mufhed explosion
and felt slight shock. Almost imme-
diately dense clouds of smoke began
to roll into the office, and within a
few minutes filled the entire building.
The hotel guests hurriedly gathered
up their belongings and fled along the
passageway to the Broadway hotel
across the alley, where they were cared
for. One of the roomers, an aged blind
woman, who is obliged to be moved
about in an invalid's chair, became
hysterical She was one of the first
to be carried from the building and
her fears We're soon allayed.
An alarm was o11icIyIV tt1r1aT In ord
the equipment from the central sta
tion at Second and Hill streets made
the run in record time. Companies
from other stations responded and
streams of water We're directed into
the basement under the paint store
Rush Calamity to Rescue
Capt. Tom Fernandez of the water
tower was among the first to arrive
While the firemen were effecting an
entrance to get at the fire under the
paint store some one yelled that there
was sick woman in a room on the
second floor and that If assistance We're
not rendered Immediately she would
suffocate. At this time the smoke was
pouring from every opening, and the
clouds were so dense that it was al
most impossible to enter the building
Notwithstanding this, Capt. Fernan-
dez, with three firemen, entered fought
their way up the stairway through the
dense smoke and searched every room
on the second and third floors. Then.
after satisfying themselves there was
no one in the rooms and every occu-
pant had reached a place OF safety, the
men staggered out of the building and
began to work from the outside.
From the nature of the goods stored
in the basement the firemen had much
difficulty in subduing the flames. Al
though there were more than a dozen
qtf- .aftx tra~
ment, through holes chopped in the
floors and in the sidewalk, the fire
continued unabated for more than half
an hour.
The fire was confined to the base
ment and the men directed their ef-
forts to keeping it from spreading and
flooding that part of the building.
Shortly after the arrival of the fire
department, smoke began to pour from
the rear doors of the building. Sew
eral lines of hose were then laid ta
the alley and the streams were direct
ed from the rear of the burning build
ing.
The furnace for supplying heat TO
fhe hotel is located in the basement in
the rear of the building, and it was
feared that the fire had communicated
to the two large tanks each of which
contained 500 gallons of fuel oil.
Ladders were run to the roof on the
north side of the building and to the
fire escape on the west side F'iremen
quickly gained the roof with ropes and
within a short time half a dozen lines
of hose were drawn up.
Fighting Against Odds
The two large air courts created Il
good draught and the smoke began to
issue from them as from the funnel Of
an ocean liner From the appearance
of the dense clouds arising from the
afrs she - y
fire was creeping up to the second
floor. This court is directly over the
paint store, but because of the heavy
smoke the firemen were unable to get
at it except from the roof. The heavy
skylights retarded their efforts. and a
battering ram, constructed from a
heavy timber to which a rope was at
tached, was brought into service and
used effectively in breaking through
the thick glass. The volume of smoke
Immediately increased, but the num-
Der of nozzles turned into this aper-
ture had the desired effect within a
short time the smoke began to grow
thinner and soon it was apparent the
firemen had the blaze under control
Assistant Fire Chief O'Donnell wsS
in charge. He worked alongside his
men and seemed to be in several places
simultaneously. From the basement to
the roof. and from front to rear, he
toiled with soaked garments and grimy
face The efficient work OF the men
was favorably commented on, and but
for their success in keeping tho FIRE
within the area in which it originated
a more serious confiagration would
have resulted, as on both sides Of the
damaged building are slight wooden
structures.
The Thayer Decorating company IS
the heaviest loser. Will II. Thayer OF
2190 West Twenty-fourth street and
Tlraa4a aFr.aMr .Ea
street. proprietors of the store, say
their stock was valued at $26, GOO. They
had recently received a consignment
of goods and say their estimate is a
conservative one. The contents OF their
store were almost totally destroyed.
surance.
With the exception OF the loss to the
paint store most Of the damage was
Continued on Page Three,