The Penn's Grove record., 1915-11-19
RoEHLINe PLANT FIRE.
$500, 900 Loss When Flames Sweep
Munitions Plants.

Munitions Plants
Fire which started in the immense
plant of the John A. Roebling's Sons
Company here, which is filling war
orders for the Allies, got beyond con-
troll of the fremen, and for a time
threatened to wipe out that section
of he city. The 1remen were unable
to get their apparatus within a block
of the blaze because of the terrific
heat. Calls for help were sent out,
and two nearby cities sent their fire
apparatus on special trains.
The fire in the Roebling plant was
the third blaze in war munitions
plant within twenty-four hours
Damage of from 81, 900, 900 to $4,000
600 was done by the fire in the South
Bethlehem, Pa, plant of the Bethle-
hem Steel Company, and later fire was
discovered in a Baldwin Locomotive
Company plant at Philadelphia.
Second Fire There.
The Roebling plant has twice been
visited by fire since it began the man
ufacture of munitions. On January
IS the company's Blackthorn plant
within a block of the plant that was
destroyed now, was Quilted by names
with a loss of 81, 500 1000. President
Charles G. Roebling declared it was
the work of a spy.
The damage in the latest fire is esti-
mated at $500, 000. The new 900 feet
long and 700 feet wide four-story wire
rope mill was destroyed, a dozen
dwelling houses nearby were burned
and the old five-story rope mill a
block away was saved by the fremen
after it's roof had caught fire from the
heat and flying %firebrands.
The new plant at Clark and Elmer
streets, has been working night and
day making wire rope, trace chains
and barbed wire for the Allies. In
other plants of the company rifle bar
rels are being made.
Men at Work.
A shift of men were at work on
the fourth fool of the new rope plant
when they smelled smoke. They ran
to a door, opened it, and flames shot
into the big room. The night fore
men rang the fire gong and the work
men fed down fire escapes or stair
ways in other parts of the big building
Before the fire apparatus arrived
the whole building was roaring
Awakened by the heat and glare,
scores of families living near the plant
began carrying out their furniture
and piling it in the streets. Women
ran to safety with children tucked
under their arms, and more than one
man was seen carrying a crib or a
cradle.
Called Outside Help.
The Roebling company had provided
an unusually large f~ire-fighting equip
ment at it's plants, but the volunteers
who swarmed from all over the neigh
borhood could do nothing. The two
night engineers in the boiler house,
John Fronley and Alexander Kennedy,
stuck to their posts until the heat be-
came too great and then fed, leaving
the automatic pumps running.
Director of Public Safety George B.
LaBarre soon reached the scene. AS
soon as he saw the extent of the blaze
he telegraphed to Lambertville and
Princeton for help. All the available
fire apparatus of both towns was i'm
mediately loaded upon fiat cars and
rushed to Trenton in special trains.
For four hours the fremen had a
touch-and-go battle, and at n mo-
ment it seemed that the fire might
get beyond their control and go sweep
ing over the city. Houses all around
the flaming plant were blazing, and
some isolated cottages burned to ting
ground because firemen could not darf
divert n of their streams from the
burning factory.
Several times the roof of the new
rope plant was ablaze, and volunteer
bucket brigades were formed to keep
the roof and sides of the building wet.
The fire apparatus from Princeton
and Lambertville arrived just as the
fremen began to gain on the flames,
and within another hour the blaze was
under control, although still burning
fiercely.
The origin of the fire is a mystery.
No one has yet been found who saw
any lurkers around the plant, and no
one heard an explosion. 1t is signifi-
cant, however, that the flames spread
with such rapidity that those in the
plant knew nothing of it until the fire
had reached the fourth floor.
Believed Spy's Work.
The fire is tho second that has brok.
en- out in the Roebling plant this year..
On January IS the Buckthorn plant
was swept by a fire hat left only the
walls of the fve-story building stand
ing. The loss of S 1880, 900 was half
covered by insurance.
President Charles G. Roebling at
that time declared it his belief that
an agent of a foreign government had
set the blaze. The fire resulted in the
injury of Chief Bennett and two men,
and then others were overcome by