Newark evening star and Newark advertiser. [volume] (Newark, N.J.) 1909-1916, 1914-05-09

rushed up to aid the frenzied women
and equally frenzied men.
More firemen were rushed up the
fire-escapes as soon as Chief Moore
arrived on the scene and six or seven
minutes after the first tap of the
alarm had reached FIRE headquarters
the nre-escapes had been cleared The
four fire-eseapes on the different sides
OF the building made it difficult to
Keep track of the persons rescued.
especially as the fleeing tenants vera
SO soon swallowed up in the smoke
pail.
1t did not seem possible that an ~
the more than one hundred re,,rs,,,.
who TeFc slippassa 80 be in the hiJiid-
M hdp escaped. RumoFs Of a whole
SAFE noiocsust spread through the
crowd tfat had gathered DESPITE Tie
carry hour. Rumors that fifteen urr-
sons had been trapped in the anti
quated apartment house soon gained
currency. Then the estimate leaned
20 twenty-five, and in some cases
even more were said to have perished
@ me rufnors lasted until Chief Moore
anu MS hretighters had satisfied ther,,
selves that If any persons were stii,
m the building they were alreagsxr
oead. The firemen then turned 49,
fire. iiiiiie ol the
Flames on Top Floor.
by the time the firemen bad
chance to give their undivided aftan-
Ilon 10 hghting the flames il did not
look as II they had a chance in the
moiia "a saving any part of the build
ing The elevator shaft and STAIR
way We're roaring furnace fine fro,,,
which the flames had rnushroomed
out on the three top floors ana had
ourst through the roof ia half q, dozen
places. . 1oe1H
Red. slow rolling. angry looking
names were visible in every windau,
above the third floor Every instant
tlnkle, pop would go a heavy
plate window. A shower of broken
glass would descend on the 1reman
The water-tower apparatus was
ranged in Lombardy street about the
centre OF the building. For the first
forty minutes it did yeoman work
The extension nozzle reached almost
TO the top of the building and poured
thousands Of gallons of water right
70 the spot where the fire was hottest.
This was on the sixth floor where the
blaze had spread ont under the roof
before bursting through The deck
nozzle slammed a mighty stream 10
the top of the elevator shaft. Hold
ing this point of vantage the flremen
drowned out the blaze in rapid order.
But after forty minutes of good work
something seemed TO go wrong with
the high pressure system and the
stream from both the extension and
deck nozzles drizzled to almost Moth
ing.
But the water tower and the high
pressure had done their work and
the blaze was under such control that
1t could be handled and kept within
bounds by the hand-manned lines
which by this time strung the sides
of the building like the basket cords
on balloon.
Battered from Ladders.
From the very first it was neees-
sary to fight the fire from ladders
and the fire-escapes because the one
stairway in the building was an in
ferno before the tirefghters reached
the scene.
1t is probably the first fire in the
history of Newark that the stairway
of a burning building building was
not the means of escape of a single
person in the building. That all but
three in the building escaped under
marvellous.
When the water tower extension
and deck nozzle had smothered the
flames on the top floor TO a great ex-
tent the firemen were able to Chamber
through windows from the fire-escape
and fight the fire from the inside
This move was fraught with great
danger. as some of the ceilings had
fallen. especially near the elevator
shaft The added weight on the floors
made it seem as if they would go
through at any time. The greater
part of the top floor and part Of the
fifth did crash down to the fourth
floor level finally, but creaking and
swapping of burned supports gave sle
firemen warning and they were ready
to jump before the slide came.
The only serious injury to a fire.
fighter was to John Habermili of En-
gine No. 5. He was hit on the head
by piece of falling cornice as he was
standing on the sidewalk. He was
taken to his home in a department
buggy. after Dir. Hugh Hart, the de-
partment physician had given him
first aid.
When the flremen. half an hour
after the blaze started. were able TO
work their way into the fifth and top
floors, the news was shouted to Chief
(coniinusd on Page 4. CslunS 5,