Weekly Caledonian. (St. Johnsbury, Vt.) 1919-1920, 1919-08-06

Il dllA cOSll1l WCl Z q COCCtl lOC
The fact that there was but Il
light breeze blowing at the time the
fire started and that the entire male
population of the town turned out to
fight the blaze saved the center of
the town. The loss will reach $4,000.
Most of this loss is covered by insur-
ancc.
The fire is said to have been
started by boys playing with matches.
The start of the fire was in a shed
owned by Mr.. Joshn where five tons
of hay was stored. The hay in
this shed was afire when the blaze
was first discovered. Aid was sum-
moned from st. Johnsbury and other
towns but there was no apparatus
available that could be sent over the
road. Several fremcn from st.
Johnsbury made the Grip by auto
mobile and aided the local people
who at this time had the fire under
control.
Besides the houses destroyed by
fire the following homes caught fire
but were saved by the hard work OF
the fire fighters: w. o. Rochclcau, f.
A. Brewer, Mrs. George Howard, Il.
N. Southworth and Mrs. l.. M. Lewis.
The work of the fire fighters under
the direction of Fire Warden Carl
White was nothing short of marvel
Gus. The men pulled off their coats
jumped onto the ladders and climbed
onto the side of roofs which were
blistering under the heat but they
held their places until the fire was
fought to a standstill.
Richard Southworth, the New Eng
land Telephone Company and Fred
Woods supplied trucks whicvh made
trips of a quarter of I, nnlc to the
river bringing water in milk cans 10
supply the fire fighters. The town
owns two wheel chemicals and these
were used to good effect. 1t re
quired refilling to keep the chemicals
going and during the lapscs the fire
gained headway which the fircmen 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
afirc. 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 a sort time previously. The
boys in their excitement after the
fire could describe little of what had
happened. People in the ncighbor
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 slcighs and a light buggy
which Mr.. Joslin paid $1G0 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-
yond nope Of saving. Here the firemen
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,