New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1912-07-08
BIG OIL PLANT BURNS
BeIIevi||e, N. j., Blaze Causes
Loss of 5000, 900.
TWO TANK CARS EXPLODE
Streams of Crude Oil, Menaclng
Nearby Buildings, Give Fire
men Hard Fight.

| Fire completeIv destroyed the oil renn-
ing and manufacturing plant OF H. some
horn Sons. at Belevillc. n. j., yesterday
Three buiIdings-a laboratory. the main
! factory and a paint shop-as well as a
number or sheds. in which oil was stored
! in ba rrels. and two tank cars, all OF whlch
! covered approximately an acre ana d ia
of ground, were converted into mass Vi
| burning wood and oil less than nan d"
| hour after the fire was discovered. Inc
| loss is said to exceed 100000
| David Bovd, tho manager Of the works
was at Ocean Grove with his family "heHi
! the fire was discovered. His home, adJoin-
ing the factory at the rear. was saved al'er
| a hard fight by the local firemen' but oy
the time he reached the scene, AFTER oeihs
hastily summoned by telephone, IN" plaht
was in ruins "A shed in which was stored
some fifteen hundred gallons or DenZihe
was saved because OF the souther!y wlnd
| that blew at the time.
II was shortly after O'Clock when Louis
Van Houten. the chief clerk at the works,
] noticed a wisp OF black smoke curling
| from under the caves Of one OF the pack
ing sheds He ran to the building, and as
| he threw open the door he was met oy
burst OF smoke and flames. He called 10
his wife and she across the Erie KAN
road tracks and through an open held 10
| fire alarm box in front Of Hillside PARK
the resort between Newark and Paterson.
| Arriving at the box. Mrs. Van Houten lost
valuable twenty minutes In sending IN
| the alarm because Of the absence or the
| key When the Avondale and BelleVllle
| fremen finally responded. half an hour
after the blaze was discovered, the whole
| plant was doomed.
! A number Of streams OF water were
| thrown upon the oil, which ran in blazing
| brooks from hundreds OF broken barrels,
| but IL had the eife't only Of agSravating
the fire Seeing that II was useless TO
combat the blaze. Chief James Is. Provost
OF the Eellevile Fire Department after
! turning in a second alarm which brought
ont every available piece OF apparatus be-
! tween Newark and Passaic. ordered his
men 10 confne their efforts to saving
noighboriug dwellings, and manufacturing
/ buildings
! 4 dense pillar Of black smoke that was
plainly visible within a twenty-mile radius
brought thousands OF spectators TO the
| scene. Julius Rotten, who is In charge ci
the New York office OF L. Somehow Sons
at No o62 Pearl street, arrived AT the plan,
shortly after the flames gained Roadway
lie directed a number OF the company en-
ployes in removing barrels from sheds Sew
eral hundred were saved in this manner but
the main factory. which was two story
frame structure covered with corrugated
iron. was filed with barrelled oil. Tho
structure work soon burned. leaving a
miniature Mount Vesuyus in the basement
soon after the fire spread through the
plant one Of two tank cars. which had been
run in on a siding from the railroad, ex-
rloded The trucks on the second cer were
ablaze and the tank blew up a few minutes
later A gully at the side OF the plant
through which a stream ran into the Pas
sale River. three hundred yards distant
became filled with blazing oil. and X re-
ouired the efforts OF several nremen tC
check Il before II made It's way to the river
Scarcely half a mile away was a chemical
manufacturing plant in which were several
watts OF nitroglycerne and below that was
the old Belleville waterworks. II was
feared that the oil would spread over the
surface OF the river and set fire to the
piers iuttnB out from lles' '"O oNI w '"' C.
The flames were extinguished in the brook
but for the rest OF the day 81 poured q
thick stream OF crude oil into the Passaic
! The heat from the burning buildings was
intense. and. combined with the smoke y
had the effect OF rendering several fremen
Unconscious They were revived on the
scene, but were unable to continue the I'M
equal fght
on second railroad siding were two
great banks OF coal, which became ignited
and could not be extinguIshed in spite OF
tons OF water poured upon them.