The Oroville weekly gazette. [volume] (Oroville, Wash.) 1905-19??, 1914-10-02
A CLOSE CALL
n. Town Pumping Plant Has Mar
row Escape From Destruction

EARLY Wednesday morning the pump
I'D very narrow escape from total
aestruction from fire, and it was only
nyed by the prompt action and pres
sace of mind of c. c. Hedger, who first
Uncovered the blaze and eXtinguished
Il single handed before calling as
sstance The fire was caused by
heavy electric voltage passing through
the lightning arrestor at the pump
house.
Mr. Hedger, who is manager of the
Similkameen Power company, has
several new transmittors at the sub
ststion, near the Orpheum theater,
that have never worked properly
through defective construction and
be has had considerable trouble with
them. About 1 o'clock Wednesday
morning he was notified that there
Was something wrong with the lights,
and going to the substation found one
o! the transmittors out of order and
the oil fairly boiling from the intense
heat He removed the fuses, and af-
ter working about an hour in an eff
fort to regulate the transformers re-
! turned to his home. At 8 o'clock Mr..
| Hedger, who lives block away from
| the pumping station, was awakened by
| A pungent smell of smoke. Partially
i nnr,1A
see smoke At first he thought the
residence of Chas. Powell, next door
was on fire. At last he observed
flash of light in the direction of the
pumping house. He first ran to the
substation and removed the fuses
from the transmittors, and then rush
a to the pumping plant. When he
arrived there Mr.. Hedger found the
| fire breaking through the window at
| the southeast corner of the building
and mounting the roof, while the en-
tire interior was illuminated by the
flames. Fortunately there is a hose
connection on the south side of the
pumping plant with reel of hose
md nozzle attached, all ready for an
emergency. Without wasting time
nounding an alarm Mr.. Hedger con-
h6cted the hose, turned on the water,
and in very few minutes had the
fire under control 1t was not until
all danger had passed that he sum-
moned assistance.
The fire had caught in the floor at
the southeast corner of the building,
where the electric motor is situated,
and where the connecting wires enter
the wall, and had spread along the
floor and up the wall scorching and
charring the wood work. The heat in
the building must have been intense,
az the paint and betting was blistered
at the west end of the room, 30 or 40
feet from the fire. On the window sill
q the extreme west end Of the room
was a box of matches. The heads of
these matches had been burned with
out igniting the matches, which can
be accounted for only by the dense
smoke that must have smothered the
nre. Several lanterns on the wall
we're destroyed, and as they contain
Cd coal oil the contents aided to feed
the fire. The stopper had been blown
out OF bottle of wood alcohol, but the
contents did not explode, strange to
sV. The electric motor, which was
Of hn
lously damaged, and the big gasoline
pump escaped without damage. The
loss will probably amount to $500
covered by insurance. 1t was a most
rarrow escape from serious loss in
dollars and cents, and a great hard
snip upon the public was averted, for
mad the plant been destroyed the town
would have been without water until
such time as new pumps could be in
sailed Had Mr.. Hedger been five
minutes later nothing could have saw
ed the building and machinery, and
tneir destruction would have entailed
loss of several thousand dollars upon
tne town AS Mr. Hedger explains the
cause of the fire the installation broke
down between the high tension and
low tension wirings in transformer
causing 16,500 volts TO be thrown on
70 the 22O0 volt secondary mains, thus
causing an immediate and continuous
oischarge through the 2200 volt light
ming arrestors at the pumping plant
inese arrestors were grounded at the
southeast corner of the building, and
from them the fire was carried to the
woodwork. 1t was a narrow ana
lucky escape from a serious fire, and
provisions will no doubt be made Sc
mat the town property can not again
be jeopardized.