Ashland tidings. [volume] (Ashland, Or.) 1876-1919, 1916-12-18
Stubborn Fire
Does Big Damage


in Ashland and did an immense
amount of damage to the Allen block
and to the Cunningham block at the
corner of Granite street. The entire
upper story of the buildings, both OF
which were brick, was practically de-
stroyed. The damage to the Allen
building was estimated by Mrs. Susie
Allen Saturday to be in the neighbor-
hood of $4,000. Insurance will al
most cover it. The Cunningham
building is not nearly so large and the
loss will probably be covered by two
or three thousand dollars. 1t is
owned by the Cunningham estate.
$1,000 Furniture Loss.
Fifteen rooms in the Allen block
were devoted to apartments, the fur
niture being almost total loss. The
furniture was valued at about 81, 600.
The lower floor of the Allen block
was occupied by Mrs. Aliens real es-
tate office, the gas office, a shoe shop
belonging to R. Burkhart, and bak-
cry belonging to Z. La Belle. The
damage by fire was confined to the
upper story, but water did consider
able damage to the contents of the
lower rooms. The flour and show
cases, etc, were moved out of the
bakery. The stoves and equipment
in the gas office were not badly dam
aged and the loss in the shoe shop
was small. Three apartments up
stairs were occupied by Mr.. and Mrs.
Langhorne, Mr.. Horr and Mr.. and
Mrs. Brewer and family. A number
of personal belongings of these people
were damaged and stolen during the
night following the fire. Mr.. Lang
horne lost some diamond links, pin
and articles of clothing by theft.
Chief Robinson Overcome.
The fire was discovered shortly be-
fore O'Clock and was just burning
through the wood locker ceiling when
found. The fire department was tele-
phoned and Chief Robinson answered
with fire extinguisher, the fire not
being thought dangerous at first. The
dense smoke and gas fumes oyercame
the chief and left the fire department
without head L. o. Van Wegen
was acting as driver, having taken
the place of Glen Guiley, who had left
the day before. BY the time an or
ganized attempt was made TO get at
the fire it had broken through into
the two-foot space between the cell
ing and the roof and was fast spread
ing under the tar roof Mr.. Robinson
meanwhile had been carried down.
stairs and lay writhing in the street
with apparently no one to give him
aid. Finally w. W. USHER applied
first aid methods and DR.. Jarvis soon
arrived and took charge. The chief
was brought back to consciousness in
about two hours and took charge of
the fighting.
Four streams.
Four streams of water were put on
the fire, which kept breaking out in
new places through the roof and
which. because of the tar roofing, was
extremely difficult to subdue break
ing out as soon as the water was
shifted to new place. For the first
hour one stream was thrown through
the windows to keep the fire from
breaking down into the top story, and
one stream was thrown from build
ing at the rear. A third stream was
thrown from the street to the roof
until Ray Sayles conceived the idea
of making a water tower out Of
telegraph pole,
Effective Work.
Climbing the pole, Sayles hauled
the hose up after him and tied it Sc
curely fast at the nozzle. With the
assistance of A. L. Strickland this i'm
provised tower did fine service as the
nozzle was about twelve feet directly
above the roof and could be swung
to play at will over the roof. Line
men Murphy and Jordan did yeoman
service also on the pole, relieving the
first pair at intervals of an hour
when the cold became intense.
A fourth hose was hauled to the
top of the Odd Fellows building and
thrown down onto the roof of the
water thrown down onto the roof of
the burning building.
Three Hours.
For three hours water was poured |
in river from the four streams
into and onto the building, but the
stubborn flames persisted, and finally
we're subdued only when the roof had
fallen in. No damage was done to
the floor of the second story and the
lathing on the walls was injured only
in a few places. A new roof and
ceiling will be needed and new plas-
ter. besides the cleaning up process.