The Bridgeport evening farmer., 1914-12-10
EDISON SEES VAST PLANT
 RAzED IN S7,OOO, 900 FIRE
Inventor And Wife Help h Salvage Wor.e To Save Laboratories At
 West Orange, N. l.

results Of months and Inoil of work would have been destroyed. Knowing this made the firemen fight the harder for the building.
 was no easy task to save 1t, for, besides being one of the oldest build ing in the plant, it was within thirty feet of the film house in which the first explosion occurred. It is a little two story red brick building, and was one of the first erected in West Or ange by MT. Edison. In it he has spent his long work days, and many invaluable inventions and contrfbu- tions to science and human comfort have been first conceived and then designed within it's walls. It is the building in which MT. Edison has won his reputation for a prodigious capacity for work.
 Notwithstanding the intense heat of the fire, many of those who helped fight it suffered from severe cold It showed during the seven hours or more that the flames burned; and wherever there was not a roaring fur mace there was bitter cold. The fire travelled from building. to building rapidly, and when it began burning buildings. its heat was shut in, and even those near it were Chilled.
 One of those injured was taken to the hospital in Orange unconscious from cold. His name was not learn ed Itswas only known that he was a nearly cooked and then nearly frozen Two other volunteer firemen were taken to the hospital in West Orange. They were Charles Lucas and A1fonzo Johns. Both had been cut by falling debris and were chilled also. None of the injured was thought to besseri- ously hurt
 rrf,e. fil,,s li,, sf,,-s started. was of frame construction. but it was consfd cred fireproof. It was not. It stood at Valley Road and. Watching street, two stories high. with s11eet-iron roof. When the flames Ieaped from 1t they were car r1ed east into the shipping box fac tory. three stories high. also of frame The great quantity of soft pine box. wood in this building made fine food for the flames. and in q few minutes they had spread to the abinet fac tory. where the cabinets for the Edi- son talking machines are made
 Here also was infIaImnable material that the flames soon ate Up. The bui1ding was five stories tall and built Of concrete. It was considered abso- lutely Hre-proof but the heat of the burning wood and varnish in it was too great for the solid wall. They crumbled and cracked and finally
 
 Many cut diamonds and sapphires used Tn the talking machines were lost in the fire. Nothing was saved from the building except some uncut stones. The loss in this building was great, as in it the finished parts of talking machines had been brought to be assembled.
 From the cabinet or assembling building the flames 1eaped to the i've story concrete office building of Thomas A. Edison Inc.s ana it's allied companies. This too, was considered withstand the fire, but it's floors all fell in and, except for the papers and books rescued by Mrs. Edison and others it's entire contents were de-. stroyed.
 l From the office the fire entered the hve-story concrete diamond disk building. the most recently construct Led of the buildings in the plant and considered one of the finest
 It was Built more than a. year and a. half ago, and in 1t the newly in- vented diamond disk records are l made. The materials used in the manuf facturing of these are very ex- pensive. and there were thousands of l cozmuleted records in the buildings. All of the materials and all Of the records-very inflammable de- 1 stroyed. In this building the greatest loss was suffered. Alcohol and condensite. which are l used in the construction of the rec ords. eNstored in a small building l behind the Diamond Disk Building. and when the flames touched these chemicals they blew up rather than l burned. The heat and flames from them did much to destroy the build ing.
 In saving the storage battery build l ing, which isl six stories tall and one 1 of the largest of the plant, the fire men did good work. In it many valu- able finished products and raw ma terials were stored which would have fed the flames had they reached the I building.
 It is estimated that from 3,500 to 4,000 persons have been thrown out Of employment by the fire. Last night there was much grieving and worry among them l The electric light wires of West l Orange went out of commission when the power house of the Edison plant
 was destroyed. Hundreds of persons from nearby towns hurried to the fire I bicycles and thousands walked. The Epolice roped off fire lines. and no one l was allowed closer than two blocks l from the flames.
 I The employees carried hundreds o1 records, talking machines and other f property4from some of the buildings
 to places of safety. They also car ried many of the drawings and pat I ents from the laboratory for fear thai building might also be destroyed.
 V. ". 0. A.