The daily sentinel., 1909-01-06

dA quickly DrOke mole In the floor
and then the center of the fire was
discovered and the stream of water
that was set to playing on the flames
soon extinguished them and in a
short time the fire was under control
and little later it was entirely out
Very little damage was done out
side of the basement and the COM
pany is doing business today as usual
The damage will not exceed $1,000
The loss is partially covered by in
surance
Just what started the fire is a
mystery. fireman who also acts as
Waterman was on duty all night at
the Floral company plant as usual.
He keeps the fire up in the furnace
so that certain temperature can be
maintained at all times in the exten-
sive flower houses just east of the
main building. Shortly before one
o clock the fireman was in the base
ment and everything was all right
He shut the door to the furnace
room, went up stairs. closed the stair
way door and proceeded to enjoy his
lunch. About thirty minutes later he
noticed that the steam gauge was in
dicating that the temperature was
dropping and he started to the base
ment to replenish the fire.
The fireman opened the door of the
stairway leading from the first floor
into the basement and a cloud of
smoke poured into his face He be-
came alarmed and attempted TO de-
| scend the stairway but so dense was
the smoke he could not get down the
stairway. He then sent in the alarm
and aroused Mr.. Ford Piatt, one of
the proprietors of the business. who
with Mrs. Piatt. have a suite of rooms
In h..aH l.
| ing. MIR. Piatt quickly telephoned
\ Mr.. ID. c. Piatt, another of the pro-
prietors who resides on Grand ave
nue.. Soon the latter reached the
scene and helped carry on the siren
| uous fight TO conquer the fire 1t
| was made plain at this fire that fire
| men need smoke helmets of an i'm
proved pattern. Had they been so
equipped last night they could have
entered the basement of the building
as soon as they arrived and exiting
uished the fire. AS it was no man
| could fight his way through that
dense smoke and escape suffocation.
The fire started at a -. near
the front of the basement and either
on the west wall or just away from
the west wall of the ice box, set fire
to large stack of paper boxes and
then began to eat away the rafters
| and the underside of the floor of the
first story. 1t worked its way into
a big stack of wire baskets, etc. and
| ruined these. There was no lamp
| stove or anything near the spot where
the fire started and the electric wires
were some distance from the appar-
| ent center of the flames.
The fire did not start within ten
| feet of the furnace or the furnace
room, consequently the furnace could
not have been the cause. The steam
pipes We're all covered with asbest os
and We're intact this morning. The
| basement floor is of sand and dirt
| The basement is at all times kept
orderly and clean
A large shipment of new flowers
was received only yesterday and had
been placed in the ice box. These
flowers were ruined. The floor of
| the first story and many supplies in
| the basement were badly damaged
Very little damage was done in the
| first story above the basement
There was about eight inches of
water in the basement after the fire
and the fire in the furnace was put
out. Without losing moments $
time after the fire Messrs. Piatt put
pumps TO work, got the water out of
| the basement. started a big fire in