The Washington herald., 1911-02-12
INADEQUATE FIRE
= FIGHTING SERVICE
Continued from Page One.

simple mater in engineering, without the
difficulties which have been overcome in
many of the inland cities which have
such a service already installed, although
they have to use water stored in reser-
voirs.
The rapdity with which a blaze can
jump across a street was never better
illustrated than in the big Baltimore fire.
That broke out in the most substantial
business part of the city, composed ex-
clusively of brick. stone. and iron build
iugs. and with a liberal water supply,
yet after it got under way it hoped
streets as If they did not exist, and pro-
gressed so rapidly that even fire engines
at work were caught in its passage. A
man who saw that famous fire, in which
the Washington department took such
a prominent and courageous part said
last night:
1T had been my business for nearly
ten years to go TO fires in>BaltimOre,
and I was one of the first to arrive when
the explosion on Liberty street, near
German, started the fire which swept
out the business section. l had seen two
blocks Of each other at the same time,
and the Baltimore department had
handled them so well that I thought a
general confiagration would be impossi-
BILE. Hence. when l went to what after
ward became one Of the greatest dis
asters in history. I felt no apprehension,
and neither did the departmest
Spread Into Interior.
But after the fire got a fun swing in
the dry goods house in which it had its
origin it suddenly spread into the interior
of the block, and in a comparatively
short while had worked south and east
Even then we had no idea that it would
cross the streets, but it did. and the fire
men never had a chance to stop it. Long
before it reached the end OF a block the
heat was so intense that no human being
could stand in front of it, but l have al
ways believed that if there had been
sufficient pressure and the buildings a
square away had been thoroughly soaked
some defense might have been made.
Ny observations OF the WASHINGTON
fire department lesd me to believe that
it is all that could be expected, both in
personnel and methods, but simply be-
cause the city has not had a big blaze,
40 not let yourself believe the thing is
impossible or that the wide streets would
save it.
The claim that there is not material
in this city for general conhagration
is entirely misleading. For instance, the
two large department stores, Woodward
& Lothrop and Palais Royal, are so near
one another that big fire in one could
under proper conditions, spread to the
other. and right there you would have n
situation that. with a high wind, might
go to an unlimited extent. Department
and dry goods stores are recognized as
especially dangerous in great fires be-
cause Of the manner in which the in
lammable contents are scattered in !
small lots. |
Documents in Danger. |
Still, while the matter of private prop |
erty is serious enough in all conscience, !
what about the government buildings?
In many of them it is the custom to store !
their vast masses of documents and rec
ords in the upper floors. For instance, |
the Land Office has established on its |
top floor a filing system that alone cost |
s25O.Oo0. Think of the many millions of
dollars that are wrapped up in its docu-
ments. The Land Office occupies a stone
building of not very modern construction,
and its destruction by fire would not only
mean loss to the government but to thou
sands of individuals, who would have
their titles to their property wiped out,
or would be put to great expense re-es-
tablishing their claims
AN illustration of the confusion which
can follow even a small loss of doc
uments was recently furnished at the
War Department, where it was dis
covered that a few had been distracted.
What would happen if the State, War,
and Navy Building were to catch fire
md be burned. just like a common, or
linarY, everyday house? Or take the
Capitol, or the Pension Office, or any
,ther of the government buildings which
ire stored with documents. The results
of full-fedged fire in them would be
"A FIRE in any one of these depart
nents would cause the government three
imes as much financial loss as two high
oress0ge systems, not to count the ir-
'eparable loss of many OF the documents
themselves Why Congress, which Is
leld responsible fopTt the safe-keeping of
he country's records, should hesitate
% install the very best means of pro-
ection for those records, absolutely re-
-ardless of cost, Is mystery to me.
L is the greatest penny-wise, pound
ooiish exhibition now before the Amer
can people and some day the men who
ire trying to make name for them
elves as watchdogs of the Treasury by
rirnming estimates for IRE fighting in
win rue tleir WORK. Il