The sun., 1908-02-13
FLAME SHEEf ON RIVER FRONT
LAND AND WATER ABLAEE IN
WILLIAMSBURG OIL FIRE.

BlOclS OF WhArves snd Bmldlngs oT ehe
standards AssEsl Sl Esrsa nssszSsss
Flames MeclGCd. but Not DOused-
Brick walls Made CaRons OF Liquid Fire.
The ice aoss in the East River were on
fire yesterday morning and everything
on land also for more than . block along
the wharves Of the Standard OIL Com
pany's Astral Oil works branch at the
foot Of North Twelfth and North ThirreSnth
streets. Williamsburg. when 10000 galldnp
Of case naphtha. gasolsne and kerossns
stored ready for shipment were ncked
up in sheets Of fame. Clusters OF rshning
tanks, crude oil watts and the great gas
tanks Of the Brooklyn Union Gas Company.
all in tho immediate vicinity Of the ifrc.
made the work OF the Hremen as tickIish
as that Of any storrning party aS Port
Arthur and It was only the quick work Of
the oil company in emptying the threatened
tanks that prevented much greater srrcad
Of the flames.
Although the fire was put under control
before the engine companies and ffrsboata
called out by the four alarms had been
at work four hours there will be plenty of
hot work for the firemen for the next Two
days in keeping the flames from spreading
beyond the mass Of wreokagc in which II
buried a great number Of oil cases as yet
unsxploded. Before the area OF tho fire
was defined by the hard work OF the frs-
men three buildings and wharf had been
consumed. The loss to the Standard on
Company was roughly put at between
$3.50 600 and $500 900.
Although yesterday was a holiday a good
sized force Of men showed up for work
in the various departments connected with
the extensive refining and packing plant OF
what used to be the Pratt Astral OH Works
before its amslsamation with the Standard
company. Out on the wharf at the foot Of
North Twelfth street was the pao king shed,
a long one storied building Of wood faced
and rooted with corrugated iron. Hers
naphtha, gasolene and certain varieties Of
lubricating oils are packed in wooden cases
for transfer directlyto the holds of the
Standard Oil steamers that lie alongside.
As far as can be learned the blaze was
started by a workman who put q red hot
soldering iron to the lip Of the spout on q
ten gallon can OF gasolene to remedy a
leak in the soldering. 1t was still dark in
the shed and the laborer did not know
that his iron was too hot until there was
fash and the can exploded between hia
feet None of the blazing fluid touched him
= 4. ~ a. -. 4...k
alarm. ----.t-. -
Fred Hellmuth, manager Of the ttnahop
IN which the fire started, quickly sent word
to the Offices Of the company back further
in the yard and an alarm was turned In A.
$50 O'Clock Before Engine Y, under
command of Capt. Woods, arrived from
it's house, only a few blocks away, the whole
OF the pier shed was burning and q large
building directly back Of It which contained
a factory for making oil cases, and large
storeroom for the boxed oil had caught
Caut. Woods promptly sent in a second
and a third alarm within three minutes
of each other. and he had his men run out
hose to Protect some Of the danger points
as best they could. II looked then AZ II
nothing could Prevent the explosion OF
one of a nest of grotesque looking retorts,
tanks that lay about two hundred feet
behind the burning buildings Directly
across the street on the North Twelfth
street side there were tanks Of oil and
gas tanks arenty. The handful OF fire
men who answered the first alarm were
treading on dynamite every step they took.
De- uty Chief Lally came down on The
second alarm and Chief Croker in his whis-
zing ed car few over Williamsburg Bridge
shortly after Lally had turned IN the fourth
alarm The fireboat Boody Capt. Burrs
commanding. slipped her moorings on
the Bi ooklyn side of the East River at the
thiri alarm and raced up TO the fire The
hreboats Mcclellan and Hewitt were sree6-
ily summoned from the Battery Besides
these the Standard Oil ComTAnys heet Of
emergency tugs. each armed With one large
nozzle on the pilot house was summoned
from moorings about the harbor, even ae
far away as Bayonne Before the hre
had been under headway an hour there
were eleven OF these auxiliary tugs helping
the regular department boats 70 -FOUR
water on the sheet OF fame that was jump,
ing out from the wharf and the buildings
behind
The minute the fire was discovered IN
the tinshop a general alarm had been sent
through all the works, and the Standards
volunteer fire department. trained for
just such emergencies turned out about
three hundred STRONG in yellow sou'westera
and oiIskins with the lines Of hose that were
placed at advantageous polntS through
out the works. Volunteers and hrernen
alike went up against about an dangerous
a game az any man wants TO undertake
once In a lifetime.
II was a case Of save what could be saved
and let the fire have It's way where it was.
All the efforts Of the hrenen and the vollin-
teer employees OF the company were
directed TO wetting down the nearby oil
tanks and keeping the heat away from the
refining tanks until they could be emptied.
Almost with the first sheet OF fame the
heavy pumps back in the main group of
buildings began to cough under forced
azA ~