The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1911-02-06
OIL FIRE FOGS The RIVER
VAREHOt ~ WJEHiW kEN
4 FINE VOLCANO.
Evies Marine superintendent Didn't
Bother to 60 Look al " TIL ne Had
Teiephoned for New York Ffreboas
Railroad Tugs to Help the Erie Too.

tuHS wv VV'V WV w ~ WV
When 100 carloads. comprising l20OO
barrels. OF heavy mbricating oil stored IN
an Erie Railroad Company's warehouse
on the Weehawken riverside caught fire
shortly after noon yesterday a black
plume Of smoke "a wide as the river
itself waved over the Manhattan shore
and as far down as Coney Island all after
noon and far into the darkness. At times
the river was 40 obscured that ferryboats
had TO sound their whistles and grope
bMndly through it as IL through fog.
The fire isn't out now and may not he for
a day or two.
The oil house as the railroad company
called the big two story brick warehouse
near the docks at Eighteenth street.
weehawken. was a brick structure 700
bv 200 feet. which stood between the
network Of Erie and West Shore tracks
at the base Of the Palisades A ship
repairing plant. elevated coal pockets
and treste and laden harges afoat and
filed freight cars ashore surrounded the
oil house with infammahle material
! Nothing but the warehouse and its con-
tents was destroyed, though portions of
the wharf and of the coal uestle were
partly burned
When the railroad men knocked Of
work on SATURDAY. the oil warehouse was
pretty we'll filed with machine oil and
heavy lubricants. all in wooden barrels
and metal tanks The oils belonged TO the
Vacuum Oil Company. which had an
arrangement with the Erie Railroad for
the use Of the warehouse as a depository
for their goods in shipment All doors
were closed and no one entered the build
ing Sunday morning
| II was at i2.45 that Watchman II. Bern
teimer. who il employed bv tho railroad
company TO patrol its marine yards
along this stretch Of the Woehawken
river front. saw a thin wisp Of very black
smoke seeping out through ventllator
on the southwest corner of the building
without investigating further the watch
man turned in an alarm for the Weehaw-
ken volunteer fire company. then he
raced down 10 the wharf and signalled
The captain Of the Erie fire. tug Shohola
which has its station beneath the trestle
Of the coal dock just south of the oi
house
Before the Shohola could move ia
closer 10 the warehouse which stood aboI,
flrtv feet back from the wharf edge a por.
ton Of the roof melted away under a solid
sheaf of red flame. The flame shot
stra ight up in the air like red hot factory
chimney and from its top volcano cloud
Of pitchy smoke was whipped of over the
river. The men on the Shohola said
afterward that the roar OF th. fam.
sounded like a freight englu. blowing
of"
After ha had notified III. Shohola =.
} crew the watchman telephoned to Tn.
home of James q Rourke. the agent in
charge Of the Erie marine yard. and tC
, A. J Grymes. the superintendent of the
} marine department Of the railroad
O 'Rourke glued himself TO the telephon,
} in his Weehawken home for matter oi
fifteen minutes before he aven went dowi
J TO see what the fire was. He knew what il
was without seeing. and that was III,
reason why the first call hs asked foi
was New York Fire Headquarters. Woulc
they please send freboat across tht
; river TO help out? They would. Il
would be the James Duane, with Battalion
Chief Conlon aboard. and O'Rourke wa,
assured that the Duane would be ont o
her berth AT Thirty fifth street and Norti
River within three minutes,
Then the Erie agent rang up the marin,
department of the I.ackawanna, New Yori
Central. Lehigh Valley and Pennsylvania
railroads and asked them TO send fire tug
"a quickly as they could The STANDARD
Oil Companv's marine department
promised TO send fire tugs from Com
munipaw.
Before the four volunteer companies
| ..L, IL l 4 a.. s,.~,,
titles Of Palisade. Baldwin. Highwooc
and Clifton. could get their engines dowr
the cliff road from the top OF the Palsade
and over the network Of tracks TO III
scene OF the blaze a whole mosquito fee
OF fire tugs was boring in through the soil,
column OF black smoke and dozei
streams we're cutting faint white vein
in the murk
First Of all the volunteer fleet to arriv,
were four fire tugs Of the Lackawanni
= company under the personal direction
OF Capt J, NJ. Emery, superintendent o
the marine department OF the LackawannI
. Railroad When Capt. Emery's boat
= groped their way through the low hanging
/ smoke cloud on the river a temporar,
i shift in the wind showed that the fire hat
I communicated with the base Of the loft.
] coal trestle. which stands about hundre'
feet south OF the oil house. nthe shadov
. of tho coal trestle is the boiler house con
0 tanning compressors, hosting engine
= and boilers 10 supply the power over al
the coal docks and marine yard jus
south of the boiler house and in line will
the advancing flames we're the two ferry
, boats Tuxedo and Elizabeth. in dock 70
repairs, which in tho case Of the latts
had been necessitated by the raking re
q ceived M the time Of the explosion in IN,
: Communipaw yards last Wednesday
= The Morgan Line steamship FL Siglo as'
, lay in dock in Tietjen 4 LanR's yard
q alongside the ferryboats.
, Capt. Emery ran his leading boat int
the dock under the coal trestle. although
. the smoke was pouring from the lip of tn
: volcano which the warehouse had becom,
in clouds almost ponderabl BILE. Emery anc
his men ran "A line Of hose out from the
A.. tug and over the wharf to the flaming
coal trestle. Here the blaze was qlienchet
and the tug firemen pushed on through
the smoke into the boiler house The
roof was blazing fercely and the docl
strngers upon which the building stooc
were aIao ablaza wban tha Iackn W n n,