The watchman and southron. [volume] (Sumter, S.C.) 1881-1930, 1910-01-01
From the Daily Item, Dec. 80.

From the Daily Item, Dec. 80.
Maj Noises residence on Warren
Street. one Of the handsomest homes
in the city was totally DESTROYED
Thursday by fire that originated In
the furnace room in the basement
about o'clock and spread thence
between the walls to the attic and
defied the determined and long con-
tinued efforts Of the entire fire de-
partment to get It under control and
save the house. 1t was a slow burn
Ing fire and several times it was
thought that 1t was under control,
but all the while 1t was still smou!-
deripg under the slate roof and be-
tween the walls. and in consequence
Of the low water pressure and the
lack Of proper fire-ighting appara-
tus-ladders. etc., the firemen were
handicapped and could not accom-
plish what they worked with might
and main to achieve. After the fire
had been burning for something
more than an hour the new steam
fire engine. which was received sew
eral days ago, but had never been
formally received by the city, was
brought out and fired up and two
streams were turned on to reinforce
the. streams that were playing on
the house with the direct pressure
from the mains. This helped mat
ters materially. but by that time the
roof had fallen in and the entire
second floor and a part Of the first
moor had been consumed, and the
firemen could do nothing more than
save the wreckage of the houses
The portion of the house that was
saved Is Of little value and it will be
rated at total loss.
The fact that the fire burned so
slowly enabled the firemen, assisted
by the large crowd that gathered. to
remove from the burning building
much OF the furniture, but 1t was all
more or less damaged, and 1t is diff
ficult to estimate the actual loss on
the contents Of the house, or to as
certain what was saved and what
was burned. 1t is roughly estimated
that the total loss will exceed $15,-
600, with fair amount of insurance
but not enough to cover the loss
The fire was caused by an explos-
lon in the furnace room that wreck.
ed the furnace and scattered blazing
Goals over the room, igniting the
floor and walls, and before anything
could be done to extinguish the
flames they had spread up between
the walls and when the fireman ar
rived they had gained such a
strong foothold that it was impos-
sible to save the house. It is not
known exactly what caused the ex-
plosion, but the supposition is that
some Of the steam pipes were frozen
by the severe cold of last night and
when the fire was started under the
boiler this morning the steam being
prevented from escaping by the
frozen pipes, accumulated until the
pressure became too great for the
boiler. The explosion Of the boiler
wrecked the furnace and scattered
the blazing fire it contained all over
the room. Maj. Noise said he heard
the explosion and ran at once to. the
furnace room, but found the room
filled with smoke, steam and fire SO
that he could not enter. He then
made all the haste he could to tele-
phone the fire department, and then
returned to the furnace room, but by
this time the whole room was in a
blaze. The hose wagons and firemen
reached the scene In short time
and soon put out the fire in the fur
mace room, but in the meanwhile the
fire had gained a foothold between
the walls and spread UP into the at
tic, where 1t continued to burn un-
der the slate roof despite all the
firemen could do.