The watchman and southron. [volume] (Sumter, S.C.) 1881-1930, 1916-04-19
FIRE DESTROYS DRY KILN.
LADDIES DO GOOD SERVICE IN
PREVENTING SPREAD OF
FLAMES.

Oumter Lumber Company
Estimated at Between $1,000 and
$4,000, Which Was Covered by In.
surance.
Fire which was discovered at $3.50
O'clock Friday afternoon in the dry
kiln of the Penn-Sumter Lumber Co.
completely destroyed the kiln and
caused loss estimated roughly at
between $4,000 and $4,000. For near
ly three hours the fire burned fiercely,
and repeatedly it threatened to Jump
beyon walls Of the dry kiln and
exten' djacent piles of lumber, but
the s consistent work Of the fire
ladd spt it back and finally con-
que 9 ven when the walls gave way
anf s was nothing between the
bk s I'D the huge piles Of lumber,
w covered the yard. 81
n : ied by stiff breeze. the firemen
J > difficult time in going near the
\ . :om the windward. side and had
" been that two streams from
= steamer were turned on just about
time the outside wall gave way,
49, flames might have spread despite
their utmost efforts. However. the
walls held for a time and the biase
on that side was met with a strong
stream Of water which beat It back
and kept it in check. The IRE was
the hottest and fiercest the Sumter
department has had to face In iong
time. q
Responding to the alarm OF fire the
auto truck found the lumber in the
dry kiln in a blaze and word was sent
back that the steamer was needed. It
did not arrive until it was too late to
save any Of the lumber in the kilns,
but 1t proved Of immense service In
preventing the spread Of the flames.
The streams Of water were very weak
until the steamer was attached, and
this served to suck up most Of the Wa
ter from tho water main. leaving little
for the other streams. Threei strearns
WARE attached to thsl4 4sAssMi1s &6eet
some time. Handicgppeu 9k1thsx Wtf1
by the absence OF their chief. who ma
out Of the city, the departm .nt, &id6d
by the employees OF the Penn-sumtSr
Lumber Company, fought hard ana
did not let up for a single minute un-
til the fire was nearly all over, and
there was no longer any danger Of tts
spreading. Several times a pile of
lumber near at hand caught and was
extinguished by the hose. One time
one Of the employees. Of the company
went up on top OF the pile and threw
down some Of the boards which had
caught and put out the rest Of the
blaze with buckets of water.
The dry kiln was divided into thres
compartments with brick walls on the
outside and separating them. The
outside wall Of the kiln on the east
side gave way first, and as this was
the direction the wind was blowing. It
seemed that the fire might spread. but.
as stated, the streams from the steam.
er held the blaze back. Later the out
side wall on the west fell, but at this
time there was little danger Of catch.
ing the lumber on this side, the wind
was blowing away from the lumber
Parts of the other walls fell, but all
stood until the firercest part of the
blaze had died down, keeping the
flames confined and making the heat
mostly go upward until it was too
high to catch the other lumber. The
three kilns were all totally destroyed
with the hundred and forty thousand
feet Of lumber in them. This lumber
was pine and popular and estimated
as worth around $4,000.
Mr.. D. H. Foresman, manager Of
the Penn-Sumter Lumber Company,
stated yesterday afternoon that the
loss would probably be around Sc.
600. and that it was covered by in.
surance. He stated that he could not
say positively how the blaze started,
but that it was supposed to have
been caused by the hot sun without
and the heat within the kiln, where
the lumber was drying. Mr.. Fores-
man praised the work of the firemen
unstintedly, saying that they had done
excellent work, especially considering
the fact that their chief was not
present to aid and direct them,