The Barre daily times. (Barre, Vt.) 1897-1959, 1914-08-21
Big Fl Tannery Was in
D - of Total Destruc-
W tion Last Night
FLAMES HAD BIG START
BEFORE DISCOVERED
Five Streams of Water and
Copious Rainfall Avert
ed a Big Loss

Bethel, Aug. 2l.-The Fisher tannerv
narrowly escaped being destroyed by fire
last evening. About 6;45 o'clock, flames
had made considerable progress near the
east end of the second floor of the finish
ing department The alarm was at once
given, but so dry and oil,soaked was
the building that when the firemen ar
rived their task looked hopeless, with
flames bursting through the cupola and
the windowds. Fire Chief Z. c. Blais-
dell, his first and second assistants. L. H.
Whitney and H. H. Shepard, and their
men, bent themselves to their task with
great energy and for half an hour waged
an uncertain conflict but were finally
completely successful
The outstanding fact of the contest
was the good work OF the fire pump,
which was installed soon after the last
tannery fire and had never been put to
a supreme test until last evening. Al
though warranted to furnish only three
streams, it actually furnished five during
much OF the time, and as the pump
owned BY the tannery people supplied
another stream, there was adequate wa
ter equipment to cope with the flames
The good judgments of the district was
fully shown in this emergency and the
pump, though il cost S. 900 and the pur-
chase raised taxes for the dwellers in the
fire district. easily paid for itself last
night The fremen, though handicapped
by late alarm, were aided by the copi-
Gus rain that fell. a brisk thunderstorm
the fire. This gave rise
to the impression that lightning caused
the fire. This is not true, though the
cause has not been determined. The
firemen were also aided by the entire
absence of wind to fan the flames.
While the roof and walls of the struc-
ture are nearly intact. damage of several
dollars was done to leather and
on the second and third floors,
partly by fire and partly by water.
For many years, the only large fire
osses in Bethel have been at the tan
leries In January, 1900, the large tan
lery plant of Phelps & Harrison was
lmost totally destroyed with an insur-
nee of $4,000 In April, 1909, the still
arger plant of the Z. G. Fisher company
vas destroyed on the same site, with
n insurance approaching sl50,0o0 The
resent Fisher plant is somewhat small
r than that destroyed in 1909, but it is
quipped with the most modern machin-
ry and is worth from Sl25000 to $780,
90, including its large stock of hides
nd leather. Ordinarily, and in the alb
ence of an unfavorable wind, fire in
he tannery does not seriously imperil
he rest of the business section, be-
iuse of the lower level on which it is
uilt and the interval between them,
of the Central Vermont track
ye. During the fire of January, 1900,
owever, several stores on Main street
ere in peril until the tannery roof
IL in.
The tannery is Bethels oldest indus
v and has always been backed well by
le townspeople. After both of the
rye fires, tax exemption was granted
II periods of ten years, and the citizens
attributed towards new buildings Last
enings fire will probably curtail oper-
ions for time, though the fire did
It affect the greater part of the plant.