Harrisburg telegraph. [volume] (Harrisburg, Pa.) 1879-1948, 1915-02-05
EVENING Chat

|
1t is probable that steps will be
taken by municipal officers in the
third class cities of the State to pro-
vide that fire chiefs and heads of fire
companies shall be given information
about the construction and the layout
of business buildings, especially stores,
factories, hotels and other establish
ments so that they may be in posses
sion of data to enable them to fight
fires with greater security than they
have enjoyed. The details of the
plan have not yet worked out but
number of men who are officials in the
smaller cities of the State and legisla-
tors have been talking over the
scheme and have found that it has
worked very well in the large cities
and that some of the smaller ones
have tried it with success. According
to men who have given the subject
attention the scheme is to have the
building inspector supply the fire chief
with drawings showing the construc-
| ton of all new buildings and for the
inspector and other officers having to
do With structures in use to make in
lspections of buildings with the fire
department officials. A plan followed
in one city is for men connected with
each fire company to make tours of
the business buildings of the city and
also to familiarize themselves with big
buildings in their home neighborhoods
so that when a fire breaks out they
will know the lay of the floors and be
able to place their hose lines at stra-
teSic points. Most of the trouble
some fires in this city lately have been
in places where there are elevator
shafts and large cellars.
Harrisburg firemen have had their
share of big fires this winter and have
handled them very we'll considering
the size of the blazes. The fires have
been Kept down to comparatively
small areas, as indeed most of the
t1res in this city have been for years.
such thing as fire spreading over
block is unknown here and the bulk
of the trouble has come from old
buildings and old style construction.
Henry Hornbostle the architect of
the pennsylvania building at the San
francisco exposition, and well-known
to many Harrisburgers, has been
chosen as the architect of the new
building of the Bureau of Mines at
Pittsburgh. There was keen COM
petition for this buildings plans and
the exposition architect won because
of designs of unusual character.
The saddest exhibition of lack of
care Tor an animal was given yesterday
afternoon in Market street when a
horse was driven along without the
usual winter precaution of being
rough shod. The horse slipped almost
every yard and the driver was told to
so see a blacksmith by a number of
people along the street, illustrating
how people feel about such lack of
care y policeman took the mans
name and told him if he came on the
street again with horse which had
TO so so slow because of smooth shoes
he would be arrested for blocking
traffic.
Among visitors to the city yesterday
was w. H. Schwartz, editor of the
Altoona Tribune and one of the most
prominent newspapermen in Central
Pennsylvania. Mr.. Schwartz is one of
the trustees of the Pennsylvania State
Hospital and comes here ito attend
meetings and occasionally to see how
the legislative mills are working.
In the days of yore, cold weather as
rule put an effective stop TO al
manner of public improvements es-
pecially such work as required eXca-
Vation to any extent; successful meth
ods of overcoming conditions brought
about by unsatisfactory weather in
the last few years, however, have been
followed with excellent results in Har-
risburg's big jobs but it is doubtful if
so much progress has been made on
any particular work as on the railroad
improvements in the lower end of the
city. In the coolest weather, even
with snow few inches deep, the big
steam shovels have steadily scooped
away the earth for the "Pennsy"
freight station site; here and there on
the new Cumberland Valley bridge job
little schemes have been adopted for
overcoming the temperature difficult
ties. For instance, early in the Fall
a great pile of clay and sand had been
heaped on the river front wall under
the bridge for use in the pier founda-
ton construction. When the frost
hardened this pile, the contractors
didn't quit and discharge the men be-
cause the material couldn't be work.
cd in-they just scooped out a space
beneath the pile, built a fire under
it and as soon as the ground was sufTi-
GENTLY thawed the operation of the