The Bridgeport evening farmer., 1915-01-06
FETCHED TO AUTO,
 FIRE ENGINE FLIES
Bedding Ridge Department Hits Upon a New Method
 of Propulsion.
Their Chemical Apparatus Saves From Destruction Fine Residence on Sunset Hill- Bucket Corps Good Work.

Bedding, Jan. 6-Using autos as tractors for their chemical engines, which on the occasion of former turn outs had been hand or horse drawn, the Redding Ridge fire department made record time in responding to an alarm during the noon hour on Mon day and succeeded in saving from de- struction the fine house on Sunset Eill lbelongine to the Dorothy Williams es- tate. The house is Ultenanted except by Howard Sherman who occupied as careta1zer the kitchen and 8 room ad- joining but Evlho at the time the fire broke out was working in the woods some distance away. James Ferry, an ernpIoye of Builder 7GcCollaHn, was doing a carpenter job at Senator Peck's windmill tower near by and discovered the flames when he went to the Williams place at noon to feed Glis horse. His shouts brought his as- sociates, some of Senator Peck's ern- p1oyes and two telephone repadrers to the scene and they set about combat ting the flames with the inadequate means at their command.
 Meanwhile the telephone cali for afelp had reached the Sanford school where one of the three chemicals is kept in readiness for action, and to w. o. Sanford, the schools former superin- Itendent. occurred the happy thought of getting the apparatus to the fire by placing 1t in tow of a1is motor car.
 
 call came da the chemical had arrived on the scene and was at work. Sllbse~ i que1fly there arrived, in tow of Ram doaf Bradley's auto, the machine of which Marcus Burr is the custodian The machine kept in Milo Osborn's s barn made a belated arrival with the help of one of Sanford Osborn's horse teams which had been drawing ice. The first chemical to arrive made comparative1y short work fin putting | AL
 ever, for the earlier efforts in fight ing the flames with pails of water the
 house would probably have been de StrOyed as the interior of the kitchen was we'll ab1aze when MT. Ferry ar rived there and the fire, which evil fdently proceeded from the ignition of a large accumulation of soot in the chimney was eating inside the parti- tions from the attic to the cellar. The l bucket handlers were seriously EaRn- ipered by the dense smoke and the heat prevented them from making use Of the pump in haae kitchen, but they | managed to keep the situation dn hand until relief came. EhroTn an opening made at the bottom of the due in the cellar there was removed a. btshel or more of glowing soot clusters and there came out still larger. qual1tity lof soot which had not taken fire. Ii lis surunised that the. f1re had been lsnouIderfng in the walks for some time
 before it broke out The loss is es-
 tima5ted at about $500 and is believed Ito be covered by inSurance. In the laatter part of last winter the house was the scene of another threa4enins fire which did not extend beyond the lchimney. In extinea1ishinE ffris blaze lone of the chemicals also did good ser. vice.
 Those who originally sneered at ths departments apparatus as toy ma.
 chimes incapable Of accomplishing re
 sults worth while, must now feel like revising their opinions F-. view oi what the apparatus has actually done engines have been insstrumental 1T leaving. The other two were ths
 homes of Mrs. Charles Bradley an6 of Randolph Bradley. From the star
 it was realized that the great dif1lcu1
 ty was to get the machines to fhS
 scene of trouble in time to make thei.
 work effective, but this problem R1ar been largely solved by the 1nethot of propulsion used on Monday Ther.
 arc plenty of autos in the Ridge Eec
 t6on ready for such use when occasion
 aasises and in future responses t.
 alarms will doubtless be much mon expeditions than heretofore By per
 sistent effort the department has sqDc lceeded in paying off all but abou $75 of the 5000 which the machine
 cost and considering the proven use
 fulness of tine apparatus subscrfp
 tdons sufficient to clear off the remain ing indebtedness ought to be speedfi, foTfhcOuliI1e