The Barre daily times. (Barre, Vt.) 1897-1959, 1913-10-08
HERE AND THERE
ABOUT BARRE

], ABOUT BARRE
A glance at the A. Scsmpini building
on North Main street Wednesday, fol
: lowing a fire there the night previous
failed to show hardly a trace on th'
exterior, save for broken windows an,
slight blackening where the flames
poured out, while more careful exam
ination OF the interior would cause ont
to marvel at the comparatively small
damage done by fire which probably
had been burning so long as that fire
had burned before being discovered.
The clock in the bakery had stopped
at 2;25 o'clock, leading to the belief
that the fire was burning at that time
In all probability, therefore, the fire
had been burning from 20 minutes to
half an hour before it was discovered by
the keen nose of the policeman on his
| beat--time enough for the flames to have
mushroomed all through an ordinary
structure.
But, happily, the Scampini building
|
II was built for stability and resistance
to fire, as well as for beauty. Every.
thing was not sacrificed to appearance j;
nor were the smaller details of construc-
tion overlooked. TO all intents and pur-
poses the building was one of the sort
which is described as slow burning, al.
belt not OF the thoroughly fre-proof
style of the modern steel buildings in
New York City.
Yet it was sufficiently flre-proof, or
| slow burning, materially to aid an alert
| fire department in confirming the flames
| to one section and then to snuff the
| fire out entirely. Fire had been eating
away at the interior of the building for
20 minutes to half an hour before it
was discovered; and after its discovery
and the ringing of the general alarm it
continued to feed on the inaammable
materials for three-quarters of an hour
before the fire chief felt justified in
sounding the call out signal, which
really means that fire is under CON
troll. But in spite of that one hour and
five minutes, at least, during which the
fire was burning, there was but one place
in the flooring of the second story
through which the flames had been able
to make their way. And it was by
this one hole that the flames communi
Gated to infammablc materials in the
offices just above the bakery.
And. having thus found their way into
the second story, the flames were then
confined to the suite of offices where
they entered, the long hallway along
side the suite showing by daylight no
signs of fire except for some broken
glass from windows in the doors and
a little debris that follows a fire, while
the row Of offices on the opposite side
of the hall showed no traces except that
their tints We're somewhat darkened by
smoke. No tongue of fame whatever
structure, although smoke could scarcely |
be kept out.
The single suite of offices, with open |
doors, alone suffered from fire on the
second story, the contents of two OF |
the rooms showing the greed of the |
flames as they licked their way On
the lower floor there was much the same /
condition, the moving picture theatre
adjoining not being molested enough to
stop the afternoon performances, while |
the sales room in front of the building
and next to the bakeshop was So little
that the proprietor was almos.
ready the next day to open for bust
ness.
This somewhat remarkable condition
was due to the careful construction of
the building Air spaces in other build
ings were not air spaces in this; they
were filed with brick, forming very
effective barrier to flames from going
from one room to another. Then, too, the
of the floors and ceilings
was more substantial than usual, and for
a long time the fire was kept in the
lower story, and even then got through
n only one place directly over the bak-
cry ovens.
Moreover, in addition to the substan-
tial construction of the building fire
hose had been placed throughout the
structure, and as soon as the firemen
we're able TO penetrate the smoke they
assembled to the second story and with
/ medium-sized hose attached to the
building were able to do very effective
work in driving the flames back down
stairs into the bakeshop.
If any better argument We're needed
20 show the value of building business
structure in a substantial manner, then
We do not know it. There are many ]
,ther business structures in Barre which
would have gone up wholly in smoke ]
iad fire worked on them as long as
he flames worked in the Scampini build
ng; they would have crumpled like (
cardboard. What better argument do
We need to show that it pays to build
veil even though it costs q little more
1t was a valuable lesson. Il,