New-York tribune., 1910-03-26
FIRE0N NEW BRIDGE
TWO-HOUR BLAZE ON
MANHATT4N SPAN.
CrO1cds See Spectacular De
struction of Many Gables
and Steel Girders.

Playing on the hre escape Of his hcme.
at Adams and Plymouth streets. Brook
lyn. at 1 O'Clock yesterday afternoon. a
little Italian boy. who had heard in his
church Of the descent Of tongues of FIRE.
happened TO look skyward ard saw
smoke and namcs issuing from the
sleepers Of the roadbed which is TO be
used by subway trains on the south side
Of the Manhattan Bridge He told his
mother about the tongues Of fame above.
and soon every one in TIE densely pOpu-
lated nOightorhood was shouting:
The bridge Is ahre,"
With pitch and tar TO feed upon. the
names soon gained great headWay'
mounting higher ard higher, until they
attracted great crowds along the water
front on both sides of the East ri .e-.
Thousands viewed the sight from the
Brooklyn Bridge. the Battery, the sky
scrapers and the roofs Of houses in the
downtown sections Of the TWO boroughs-
Afar, the Williamsburg Bridge, from
end % CUd. also held crowds. who. IN
common with others. from every poiE-
Of vantage watched for two hours the
spectacular scene on the newest Of the
great steel structures spanning the
river
Tho FIRE was caused BY the bottom
falling out OF the fireplace of one Il
three tar tanks. The Goals ignitej tire
slCepers. which haa been treated with
cTeosOte The flames leaIed with great
speed along the sleepcTs ard spread to
the wide rCadbed fOr vehicula- trafEr.
Immediately 10 the north. The hand-
cars. on which were the large sheet iron
tar tanks. caught fire. and in turn iguited
nifty barrels Of pitch. which of course.
increased the area and intensity Of the
flames
Wire Gables Damaged.
Bridge Commissioner Martin. after a
cursory survey. said the damage prob
ably would be S25.ODO. bur other engi-
neers familiar with bridge work thought
that. as much of the steelwork had been
warped. the estimate was too conscrva-
tive The greatest damage was to the
suspensory wire cables. stretched per
pendicularly against the uprights 10 the
main cables. running from the tower 10
the anchorage. These support the road
bed OF the bridge. and the work of re-
storing and replacing them will require
much time and deIicate engineering.
Some II the girders upon which the
rails for the subwav trains rest also
were damaged. several Of them being
warped. but the l~.ssitudinaI sirders.
with their criss-crcss netting of steel
lars. were only slightly affected The
steel latticewOrk and the horizontal
bars on top of tho guard railing on the
south side of the roadwav were warped
and twisted fantasticaHy Many sleep
crs wiz have 10 be replaced. auG ali the
irouwcrS remaining unwarre1 within
the area Of the fire Will have 10 be
scraped and rePaintee.
After two alarms had been sounded
the nrcmen took their apparatus 10
Adams anC Plymouth streets Deputy
Commissioner O'Keeffe realized az once
that IL would be almost impossibls 90
hSnt the flames from the street lie
sent some of the apparatus 10 the Flat
bush avenue entrance of the bridge. so
that il could cross the structure To the
tower. Tile hreboats and the high
pressure system We're utilized. but the
streams felI short most Of the time. and
practically throughout the TWO hours of
fire fighting they were Of little use
Crowds Watch Fire Fighters.
-Four lines Of hose were pulled. hand
over hand from the street ai.d from the
roofs of warehouses to the roadway OF
the bridge and on the Manhattan side
OF tile tower workmen wieldcC axes
on the slcepcrs so as 20 make spaces
To- prevent the advance OF the flames
from the burning ties. and grea, holes
were chopped in the flooring Perched
upon The steel sirders. with the crowds
watching their movements from the
street. the firemen played water or the
flames overhead.
] Baxter. the engineer in cha -ge. said
the roadbed for the subway trains was
almost completed when the FIRE was dis
covered. Between the sleepers tar and
concrete were being laid. and il was nee
essary. Of course. 10 keep the fires burn
ing under the tar In the tanks.
Fire was discovered on the same
bridge about noon last Saturday near
the place where il started yesterday. bu;
did 70 damage 20 the ironwork. Sew
eraI hundred sleepers were burned.
These were replaced and the ironwork.
biackened and scorched by the flames.
was Tepainted
As result Of these fires Mr., O'KeeHe
said that some sort of a fire brigade.
la aving the high water pressure At it's
service. should be installed on all the
city bridges
SLEUTHS DEEP SLEEP