The San Francisco call. [volume] (San Francisco [Calif.]) 1895-1913, 1909-07-02

as from its location 1t could not nave
been reached until much damage had
been done.
Pier AZ, which was most directly
menaced by the fire. is crowded as 1t
never has been before with valuable
freight awaiting the Mongolia there
is on the dock the greater part or the
1000 ton -eargo landed from the
The fire was started by the dropping
of a match or lighted cigar or cigarette
between the worn and slivered plank
the smoke below the wharf, and the fire
was not detected until the underside
of the planktng was ablaze Tor con-
siderable area. Nearly every serious
fire that has occurred along the water
front has been started in this way. The
hose from the Pacific Mail dock was
brought into action, but 1t was not
until the fire department put In an ap-
pearance and the firemen ripped up the
planking that any effectual extinguish-
ing was done.
President Stafford of the board of
harbor commissioners, speaking of the
fire. called attention to the fact that
it was now a matter of months since
the harbor commissioners sent to the
board of supervisors the draft for an
ordinance making 1t a misdemeanor to
smoke on the wharves and bulkheads
along the water front, with the Sug-
gestion that its speedy enactment was
an urgent necessity. The state al
ready has a rule forbidding smoking
on wharves and bulkheads, but having
no police power the harbor commits
sionerS are unable to enforce the regu-
lation. San Francisco, he said, is prob
ably the only port of its size in the
world where one may see longshore-
men reclining during the noon hour on
bales of hemp stacked on a wooden
pier and smoking cigarettes.
The wharves and bulkheads we are
now constructing" he said, ARE fire.
proof, but most of the wharves are of
infiammabl BILE ma terial, and as we will
have to use these for many years to
come il is only common sense to for
bid by law any practice which would
! Jeopardize them. 1ncipient fires from
castaway cigarettes are of daily oc-
currence along the water front and will
be until the police are given the power
to arrest violators of the mo smoking"
rule.
No Bonfres on State Property
President. Stafford discovered a bon-
fire the other day on Seawall lot 3.
He Investigated and found that many
tenants of the state regularly adopt
this method of disposing of rubbish to
save the expense of hauling it away.
mission in violation of a city ordinance
and Stafford yesterday directed the
chief wharfinger to instruct all wharf
| myers to this effect and to put a stop
to the practice. He concluded HIS
communication to the chief wharfinger
as follows:
/ fire a mile from house is subject to a heavy
4 penalty unless be obtains a permit from the
/ FIRE warden of his district, while the bust
nessmen Of San Francisco countenance indis-
criminate confagration that jeopardizes whGryes
aud other property on the water front.
junk From the Indiana
| The steamer Stanley Dollar arrived
yesterday from the lower coast loaded
with junk from the Pacific Mail liner
Indiana. Everything that COULD be
moved from the wreck and was worth
taking was transferred to the Dollar.
What remained of the Indiana will be
! left where it is. Chief officer Kid
ston and the three members of the
liners crew who shared with him the
lonely vigil on the wreck returned on
the Dollar.
MaripOsa Sails for Tahiti
Crowded with passengers, most of
them on vacation bent, the liner Mari
posa Captain Hayward, sailed yester-
day for Tahiti, where the steamer will
arrive in time for the passengers to
witness the festivities attending the
celebration of the fall of the Bastile.
I III f,,1