The evening Caledonian. [volume] (St. Johnsbury, Vt.) 1918-1920, 1919-08-01
CONCORD SAVED
FROM FLAMES
BY HARD FIGHT
Continued from page y

owns two wheel chemicals and these
were used to good effect. 1t re
quired reflling to keep the chemicals
going and during the lapses the fire
gained Roadway which the fremen had
to overcome.
The losses from the fire are: Mrs.
Ellery Ford, house and barn, $4,000;
Fred Hastings house and damage to
barn, $4,000; Frank Joslin, barn and
contents, $1,000; damage to other
buildings $1,000.
The fire started about 1890 o'clock.
Mrs. Hastings was in her kitchen
whe none of her boys rushed into the
house and cried that the shed was
afire She found the Joslin shed in
flames. Her two boys, Lafayette
Hastings, aged 6, and Calvin Hast
ings, aged 5, had been playing about
the shed sort time previously. The
boys in their excitement after the
fire could describe little of what had
happened. People in the neighbor
hood said that the boys had been play
ing with matches.
The little fellows were exception
ally fine boys and whatever happen
ed was purely accidental.
The fire spread rapidly from the
shed to the main barn where several
valuable sleighs and a light buggy
which Mr.. Joslin paid $160 for, were
stored. At the discovery of the fire
Mrs. Hastings ran to the corner, the
former site of the West Concord
House, which was burned by fire in
1912, and cried for help. Men rushed
to the scene and then the fire bells
on the church were rung. Men drop
ped their work and manned the fire
lines.
The flames spread in the other di-
rection to the Hastings home. The
main part of the house was soon be-
You'd hope of saving. Here the fremen
made firm stand.
Directly in the path of the flames
was the home Of Mrs. o. b. Cutting
not over 20 feet from the blazing
Hastings house. The men hung wet
blankets from the roof covering one
side Of the house. Other men with
pals of water remained on the roof
and wet down the shingles as fast as
they could get water passed to them.
The water supply came entirely from
the men who ran the trucks back and
forth to the river.
This same thing was done in pre-
venting the fire from spreading to
the barn which is directly in the
rear of the Hastings home. The barn
was connected by shed but this was
torn down by the fire fighters Men
stationed on the roof prevented the |
further spread of the flames in this
direction.
The fire went on until shortly af-
ternoon when the blaze in the Has
tings house was finally downed out. |
1t will be several days unless there
is rain before the ruins will be cool
ed.
The fire is an unusually severe
strain to Mrs. Ford who came to
Concord with her husband only four
years ago. Mr.. Ford died last spring
of heart trouble. They came to Con-
cord from Gardner, Me. M. Ford was
a native of Concord.
To tell the names of those who did
heroic work at the fire would be to
mention most of the names of the PEG
pie of the town. Miss Helen Reed and
Miss Ruth Hastinge did fine work at
the telephone exchange in summoning
help from every direction. Ladies of
the village made hot cffee and sand
wiches and kept them going to the
fire fihgters. This splendid work and
saved terrible loss to
he town.