The Pleasantville press. (Pleasantville, N.J.) 1912-1929, 1912-01-10
ia sst@gs 9pf It's building ard
n ste1 0thers-Good Work of
Firemen.

les eutted the apartment house
a. ore building owned by Merritt j.
ia an, on Shore road, Thursday after
( mailing a loss of about $1,000
Th ire destroyed the roof of the three
story frame structure, which is but some
forty feet from the Hotel Rodney. Both
this cottage and the hotel were only saw
ed from destruction by the heroic efforts
of the Pleasantville firemen and num-
Der of neighbors.
A few moments after the fire broke
out the Pleasantville fremen telephoned
to Atlantic City Fire Department ask
ing them to be ready to send assistance
if the fire got beyond their control. The
Pennsylvania Railroad officials backed a
freight and fiat car up to the South Car
olina depot ready to ship the fire appa-
ratus to Pleasantville and Chief Black
had score of firemenn and two engines
ready to send when a second telephone
message was sent stating that the fire
was under control
The fire started, it is supposed from
an overheated gas engine, used to keep
up heat in a hot water boiler. The
flames first appeared in the second story
of the building. In one of the store
rooms in the first story pool-room is
kept by Mark Lake. He discovered the
flames in the story above the pool-room,
ana rushed upstairs and turned off the
gas supply, and with several neighbors
turned on number of fire extinguish-
ers An alarm was sent to the towns
fire, department and soon thereafter a
half dozen streams of water we're turned
on the burning building. The flames,
however, swept upward to the third sto-
ry of the building and burned almost
completely the inner roof and partly
through the outer roof, sending showers
of sparks over the roofs of the adjoining
buildings.
Two streams OF water. which came
from halffrozen fire plugs, were sent up
through theQnside of the house, and for
an hour the firemen had the hardest kind
of work, facing the cold weather for the
spray from the water streams froze al
most as soon as it touched their clothing
There was high west wind blowing at
the time. but the tiremen and the volun-
teer brigade stopped the progress of the
flames inside of an hour.
While the fire was in progress Edward
Powell and Henry Fulmer went to the
roof of the Hotel Rodney and turned on
stream of water, which saved the hotel
from burning. Powell nearly slipped
from the roof on the ice which formed
from the spray Of the hose line, and Full
mer had to be pulled from the porch
roof with his clothing frozen to his body
The building was recently erected by
Mr. Tatum. and the loss is fully covered
by insurance. One of the apartments in
the upper story of the burned building
was occupied by Mr.. Tatum, and the 9th
er was vacant John Yinger occupied
the other store on the first floor. Boil
stores We're damaged by the water pour
ed in the apartments above
Considering the high wind and the
cold weather prevailing at the time, the
saving of the building is a big feather
in the caps Of the Pleasantville firemen
! They certainly deserve the highest praise
for their excellent work, which could not
have been surpassed by any others.
Two alarms OF fire were sounded again
on Saturday morning, but in each case
the fire was extinguished before the com.
pany arrived and with but slight dam
aye