Arizona republican., 1915-06-22
UNKNOWN SETS
 0|L 0N FIRE
Crude Oil Leaking from Tank Truck at Hotel Adams Ignited by Mis- creant, Who Then Makes His Escape.

For about ten minutes yesterday ! afternoon at 2:30 o'clock there was
 more eXcitement in the downtown
 district tha nthere has been in many months when many gallons of crude
 OIL flowing down the alley between
 the Hotel Adams and the Greene &,
 Griffin real estate office and into
 the gutter north and south of the al-
 ley on Central avenue became ignit , ed and sent dense clouds of black smoke rolling upward. For time It appeared that a serious conflagra- ton was in progress and the entire department was called out The
 liberal use of chemicals quickly ex-
 tingulshed the blaze and but little damage was entailed excek for the
 melting of a considerable stretch of
 the bitulithic wearing surface of the
 pavement.
 A large tank carrying crude oil to
 be used as fuel by the Hotel Adams
 was discharging its contents in the alley. There is pipe at the side or the hotel building communicating with the storage tanks in the base ment. The driver of the big truck after fixing a funnel in the mouth of
 this pipe and starting the oil flow ing, made his way into the hotel to notify the engineer of his arrival
 When he returned he found that the pipe had become clogged and the oil was overflowing into the alley.
 . Just about this time two men were seen to drive up in q buggy attached to team of horses. One of them, it is said, deliberately got out of the buggy, took a match from his pocket, struck it and applied it to the flow ing oil. Instantly there was flash of flame and smoke of the blackest hue began mounting upward. At the same time the man who started the fire jumped back into the buggy. the team was started north on q gallop and the outfit disappeared.
 The three big trucks of the fire department were in action quickly after the alarm sounded and while hose was laid from each of the wagons no water was turned on the blaze. The chemical acted like magic and the blaze died down as rapidly as it had started. The automobiles that were standing in the alley were at one time completely surrounded by flame and smoke. but little or no damage was done to these.
 A description of the outflt in which the man who started the fire and made his escape. was given to the police and Chief of Police Brisbois and another officer started in pursuit in the patrol wagon but were unable to secure any trace Of the miscreant.
 It was noticeable at the time the alarm was sounded yesterday that there were many automobiles stand ing very near the fire plugs. The owners of some of these hurried them out of the way but others were stand ing there when the trucks began to arrive The police and citizens bent their efforts to removing the cars and the fire trucks managed to make the hydrants unhampered. Chief of Police Brisbois last evening called at tention to the fact that q police re- gulation foTbids the standing of any within fifty feet of street corner He says that he will enforce this regulation as the pres ence of a machine at a fire plug might result in the loss of valuable time when a serious fire is in pro gress He asks all machine owners to carefully observe the regulation and to keep their machines outside the fifty foot line.