The weekly Iberian. (New Iberia, La.) 1894-1946, 1910-05-14
SATURDAYS FIRE.

Of this city had Il new experienc
thrust upon them The fire alarm di
roeted them to the Sid District -bu
the pillar of smoke then shown!
plainly against the sky afforded al
the direction needed. 1t seems tha
\ the barn On the property of j. NJ
| Springfield, at b26 Lafayette street
was hopclesslv aiire before 1t wa
knoNnto anyone in the neighborhood
and the high southWind, then prevail
! ing, soon whipped the flames into :
! fury, driving everyone back till the
| arrival Of the Hfcmen
| When tie iircmen reached the scene
| there Was practically little to be don,
other than protect the neighboring
| buildings from igniting. After run
ming out long lines of hose this was
done and the fire itself was cooled
down. Several of the little cottage
homes OF tile colored people of the
neighhorh0Od were discovered atire in
water, and Just when the iiremen were
! beginning to feel that their work was
over, another alarm was sounded
Some two blocks away from the
burnt barn, but IN the track of the
wind and sparks, the house at No. G25
East St Peters street, the property OF
Corela johnson, was discovered to be
with blazing roof Before the hose
could be gathered up and re-laid for
It's new service the whole roof of the
building was involved. With the
turning on of the water, however, the
tiremnn soon had the fire checked and
on the wane, bat at that critical mo-
ment the water ceased and in disgust
the men threw down their noZzles.
An appeal was phonei TO the Iberia
Cypress Co. to turn on their big
pumps to The city mains. This, they
promptly did; but before the water
was again started the half extinguish
"a fire in the burning building reviv
ed and MAS again in q rage, sending
forth quantities. OF meHac1ng sparks.
TIE building was about a total wreck
before the fire could be again checked.
For a while the situation was quite
omnimous. A large sectiop was being
seeded with livid sparks from the
burning building. Everything was as
dry as tender in consequence of the
drought A water supply foe bucket
brigade was almost out of the question.
The wind was a gale. The one help
ful condition was the several large and
small trees Immediately back of the
burning building. Their dense foliage
acted as fire brake. Every root and
every promise to windward was close
ly guarded during the period Of dan
ger
The causes OF the trouble were many.
The long drought and the consequent
heavy pumping that had to be done
by the waterworks plant had prepared
the way for tronble-possibly The de-
mand for water had been so excessive
the system that it had
been difficult to MAINTAIN the pressure
with only one Of the big pumps work
ing. When the fire alarm was sound
ed It was known that higher pressure
would be on and many availed them
selves Of the opportunity of "sprink-
ing. This intermediate bleeding Of
he mains resulted in very poor pres
,ure in the outskirts of the system
where the liremen had to work. 1t
,ad it's further influence by making
he pumps work most violently in an
fort to maintain the pressure. Dur
ng the violent action one of the
pumps jumped valve out of its seat
which put the pump out of commits
ion. The one remaining pump was
mpotent under the circumstances.
The manifest correctness of the
lbovc statement was amply borne out
" the fact that after the rain, on
tuesday, the plant had no trouble in
100 pounds pressure for
he firemen at the fire call of that day.
This incident suggests that an or
finance, forbidding the opening of
water connections during a fire. except
y consent Of the Chief of the Fire De-
'artment, might be wise measure as
might be the means of preventing a
ripping of the fire pumps in a more
ritical moment.