Burlington weekly free press. [volume] (Burlington, Vt.) 1866-1928, 1919-11-27
$4,000 FIRE IN
BUSINESS SECTION
Warehouse Occupied by Fergu-
son & Adsit Company and
A. ID. Pease Is Burned

! Another Of the fires Of mysterious origin
which have visited Burlington Of late
broke out Saturday night in the store
house of the Ferguson & Adst company
and A. d. Pease. causing n loss estimated
to he more than $4,000, Of which the
J Ferguson g. Adsit company suffer by far
the heavier part. The fire. which burned
throughout the entire night, completely
destroyed the contents Of the warehouse.
leaving only the walls and part of the
| floors inside the building.
! While there is nothing 10 indicate that
the fires which have occurred during tho
past week have been set. the authorities
say that things look funny" Last week
was the busiest week which the depart
ment has experienced in a long time, and
, eliminated in what the oldest men in
, the department call the first stubborn
fire in their experience. Six men were so
overcome by smoke nat they were in a
serious condition. whic a dozen more were
hauled out partially overcome, but We're
able to go back to work after short
, breathing spell. Even the men who were
in the most serious condition got back to
work at some time during tho night
The fire was discovered about $50
O'Clock when smoke was seen issuing from
the warehouse by the firenen in station
four, almost directly opposite. They imme-
diatcly telephoned to station one but u
mistake was made in taking the location
so the trucks went to the head of Church
street and circled around and down South
Winooski avenue. The bell alarm was
turned in from box AZ at the corner Of
Church and Pearl streets. The true loca-
ton of the fire was then discovered as
the smoke continued to pour out of the
building in dense volume
1t seemed that the fire was in the
basement, but the ircmen were up
against tough proposition in getting to
ii. for the basement was piled to the
ceiling with bales of hay, straw and
shavinss. the property of A. -. Pease.
When stream was put in through the
windows or doors II could penetrate only
n few inches. The smoke was so dense
that staying in it for long was out of
the question. The fremen dropped in
rapid succession and at one time two
men were kept busy dragging others out
A tunnel was finally effected and the
men were able to reach the end of the
basement. which is 100 feet long
In all. Il streams of water were kept
on the fire Five went in from South
Winooski avenue. with another from the
roof of the block on College street. which
is separated from it by narrow alley
way. Another stream was poured in from
the second story of the Leavenworth
block. More fremen were engaged in
the fight to prevent the fire spreading
to the Ideal garage and two streams were
put in from the roof OF that building
The rest of the water was sent in from
the rear Of the building. which extends
through to Mechanic street. For the
frst time. Chief Stockwell put into use
the turret pipe. The pipe proved OF
! great value. throwing a two-inch stream,
at the tip. and the chief holds that re-
J sponsible for keeping the fire in on the
east side.
A strange thing about the Are was the
manner in which it jumped from the
basement to the third floor About mid
night. when most of the work was being
done in the basement, flames burst forth
through the roof. and in an instant the
top of the structure was a mass OF flames
Men were in the elevator shaft at this
time and say that no sparks got ur
that way. 1t is one theory that sparks
got in through the third story window
early in the fire. The third floor was
burned much worse than was the second
and It was here that the Ferguson &
Adsit Co. had its big stock of leather
goods, shoe findings. blankets. harness
etc.
The men who were the most affected
by the smoke were Allie Niles, William
Snow, William Mossey. John Fielding
, Frank Poirier and Leo Glynn. They
were carried across the street into fire
station four. where a temporary hospital
was established. Some were put in the
, beds and others were laid out on blan
kets. spread on the floor. A call was sem
in for physicians and Doctors C. A
Pease. j. FL. Dodds and G. I. Forbes re
sponded. Dr. Pease also helped the fire
, men out WITH coffee and doughnuts.
The question as to what started the
, fire is unanswered A man was through
, the building after eight o'clock in TIL,
evening and saw that everything was al
right. In less than an hour and a half
the fire was raging. The doors were
locked and the windows were closed. anC
as an additional measure Of protection
there are screens over the windows L
would have been possible to throw
light in through the windows if anyon,
r broke the glass and put a match through
the screen. There also is little space
between the doors South Winoosk
avenue where light might be thrown
in. with difficulty. The fire evidentl
started near that place and spread tn
a length OF the basement,
e THE LOSSES
Charles 2. Smith owns the buildin.
and said Sunday that he had PLACED
a value on it of $4,000 to $4,000. Wha
It would cost to rebuild it he did no
|, know at the present time. The exten
= of damage done to the building is ais
problematical. 1t was of mill construc
ton with great heavy timhers whic
made II slow burning. 1t had three inc
plank floors and part of this is prob
. ably in fair condition now. The wall
a are standing but the roof is gone. TIL
i building was constructed for warehous
o purposes and therefore has none of tn
l. expensive inside finishing. The wall
: were built for the purpose of with
standing fire. with no openings on tn
south side, and that helped greatly i
keeping the fire out of the Ideal gar
age
The heavy lossers are the Ferguso
} & Adsit Company. whose loss runs u
y to about $4,000 They occupied tn
entire third floor and more than one
half of the second The firm il tn
largest saddlery concern in New Eng
land at the present time and had hi
stock of harness. One item whc
lars is 100 rolls of sole leather, of TEL
sides in each roll. There was also
big stock of shoe findings and othe
leather goods. Officials Of the company
= who had been working all day, sal