Newark evening star and Newark advertiser., 1915-11-10
STEEL PLANT
BURNS WITH
HEAVY Loss
War Order Factory De-
Stroyed at South
Bethlehem.
SEVERAL MILLION DOLLARS
WORTH OF GUNS ARE LOST
Fire Is Caused by Short Cir
cult, Which Ignites
~ Oil.

SOUTH BETHLEHEM, Pa, Nov.
1o.-Ffre early today almost conn
pletely destroyed the number ma
chine shop of the Bethlehem Steel
Company. Only the skeleton of the
big building is standing. Machinery
and war material in the building was
said to be worth millions Of dollars.
The fire started in what is known
as the boring mill section Of the
plant among quantity Of oil.
The fire spread rapidly and soon
the entire building was wrapped in
flames. The fire department Of the
steel plant was called into action as
well as the departments from four
neighboring towns but their efforts
were. mainly devoted to saving ad-
joining property. The value Of the
guns alone in the shop is said to be
several million dollars. There were
about one thousand machines of diff
ferent kinds in the building running
from iathes, shapers, drills on down
to boring machines. These machipes
were worth from s4OO to several
thousand dollars each, and it is esti-
mated that the value Of the ma
chinery was several million dollars.
Employees Escape by Ropes.
The burned shop was $50 feet wide,
700 feet long and four stories high.
On these four floors 2.050 men were
employed in day and night shifts.
In the neighborhood OF 800 men were
at work when the fire started and so
rapidly did it spread that some en-
pIoyes had to make their escape by
means Of ropes from the different
floors. ss
From workmen it was learned that
the fire started among oil near the
entrance to the plant. This oil flows
in conduits and is used to gather up
flying chips which escape in the opey-
alton of gun-boring. There was only
q spark OF fire at first. which some
worlxmen started to put out by throw
ing on water. Then followed mighty
flash and up lsaped flame as high
as the structure, which seemed at
once to envelop the whole Of the big
building
General alarms were sounded not
only in the steel works, but through
out the boroughs of South Bethlehem,
Bethlehem, Fountain Hill and North.
arhpton Heights. In a short time East
Third street was thronged with fire
engines which pumped water onto
the burning building.
No Lives Lost, Belief
The fire started on the south side
of the building and soon ate its way
through the structure to the north
side. Floor after floor loaded down
with machinery collapsed and fell to
the first floor, where 1t lay in jum-
bied mass. AS far as known there
was no loss of life. The fire probably
will burn all day.
Some heavy losers are many Of the
employees who lost all their tools, sew
eral having as much as 500 worth in
the building.
Recently the burned building was
rebuilt and expanded and equipped
at cost said to be $4,000, 900. 1t was
given over to the manufacture of guns
of various caliber for the use of Eng
land and her allies. and some 800 Of
these guns we're in progress Of man
ufacture when the fire broke out.
The fire is said to have resulted from
;. spark from an electric light lamp
which exploded, fulling into a pool Of
oil.
PHILADELPHIA, Nov. 10.-Two
sections of small building at the
1~~~.A 49,. -. = A.
motive Works used for the storage of
patterns was destroyed by fire today.
The building was located some dis
tance from that part of the plant
which is engaged in manufacturing
arms for the allies. The loss is small