Burlington weekly free press. [volume] (Burlington, Vt.) 1866-1928, 1919-11-20
blaze Is Confined to One Ware
house But Loss Is Large In
Guiding Carload of Auto Tires
and Another of Paints
TWO FIREMEN INJURED
lanes Are Kept Away from Come
pany's other buildings md Standard
OIL IHnnt Near By--Fire II Fought
Hours--OriGin Unknown


arge warehouse of the Vermont Hard
ware company about midnight Saturday,
and before IL was extinguished, seven
1ours later had caused damage of more
han S125.0o0. 1t is impossible to even ap-
,roxmately estimate at present. accord
ng 20 the statements of the officials of
he company who say 1t is ut least that
cure.
Two tiremen were injured In the fight
galpst the flames and nearly all had
arrow escapes from the flames and
moke. The stiff wind from the south
famed the flames and made the work of
ire lighting still more difficult. The
lanes were kept away from other build
ngs Of the Vernon. Hardware company
and the Standard Oil company, which is
iear by, in spite of the sparks, which
were blown about for a long distance.
Men were stationed on some of the roofs.
rhe extension IF the big we ter main was
cf great value, with nine streams OF
water drawing on 1t.
Among the items which mount up in the
.otal loss were a carload of automobile
Tres and another carload of paints which
had just been received. Then there were
more than thousand blankets and vast
amount of other lines The damage to the
building Is large but the walls appear to
is not SO large as would at first appear.
The origin of the fire Is unknown. and
neither the officials of the company nor
The firemen have any theories. II was dis
covered by the Waterman of the Standard
on company. When the Vermont Hard
ware conpany's man was throuGh he
warehouse at 1910 o'c'ock he saw no
signs of the fire which had broken thre Ugh
ne roof when the other Waterman saw
IT,
When the night Waterman on the
Standard Oil company's plant Il scov-
cred the fire flames and smoke were
ieaping through the roof and he tele-
phoned fire station one. Both trucks
were there in a few minutes and as
soon as the men saw the task ahead
of them general alarm. surimoninG
every fireman in the city. was sent
in from box Gil The interior Of the
big warehouse was a veritable furnace
by that time. The station one men got
Il stream in At The northwest corner,
which was thu first of nine lines Of
hose laid to the building.
Five lines were strung up over the
roof and the f,remen had a hard time
up there with the water freezing on
the roof aud the flames shooting up
around them. ether streams of hose
were laid into the building from the
east. west and south. The heat was
intense and when the men were in
side they were driven out repeatedly
by the burst of flames. In some cases
they were obliged to get out when
he flames were threatening their
rear.
To add TO the difficulty, one room
is devoted to small arm ammunition
and another to oils. It was expected
that this would be reached by the
flames and the fire did work its way
into the oils but was stopped before
It raised havoc. The building Is con-
structed with heavy concrete floors
and partitions OF concrete and ex-
handed steel. and these proved of
great worth in the fight. The water
STAYED up well in Keeping pod pres
sure on through the nine lines of
hose.
Assistant Chief Carly was injured
when he drove nail into his foot
but he kept on in the fight. and Bar
ney Francis of station four was in
1ured when his foot slipped on the icy
roof and he went through where a
skyIiEht had been. A short time be
fore he woulc have landed in the
flames but the accident did not hap
pen until these had been subdued In
this part. He suffered serious injuries
TO his back in the drop OF ~ feet and
was sent home for medical treatment
The exact extent of his injuries has
not yet been ascertained.
The fire got into the large stock OF
blankets and other places where 1t was
difficult to extinguish it entirely. and
when all was thought to be out. fire would
burst forth in a new place 1t was not
until seven o'clock that the companies
were sent back and one line of hose
WINS kept on the smouldering mass al
Day.
The officials OF the company showed
their shirt while the flames were al
their worst and Lester l.. Henry war
busy at three o'clock in the morning get
ting out letters to the trade. explaining
the situation, while Smith F. Henry anL
other officers were busy in making tn.
best of bad situation in other ways ir
spite Of the fact that a fortune was fas
djsa Dpca ring in front of them. The com
pany has pounded on the true Vernon
spirit in the past and put the slogan
which marks q lot of their brands into
use yesterday
The Vermont Hardware company has
warehouse in Malone. y. Y, and has two
travelling statesmen in that territory
while the main business IL conducted from
here and Ave travelling men go from
this place over Vermont and New Hamp
shire. Inc STOCK cdITieu mere 1b lIHHtHst
but the fire did not get all of IT, as ont
warehouse " as untouched and in one sid
of the big main warehouse there Is
large amount uf some lines of hardwar
which appears not to be damaged.
The carload OF automobile tires wa
valued at between sl50o0 and 10000, ant
In addition to this amount the com
pany had big stock OF tires in tn
warehouse. All that remains Of tina
Ar. couple Of inner tubes whcl
the fire did not reach. The paint de
partment is in about the same condi
ton as the tires The new carload
entirely gone, as are all the paint
and varnishes which were held OF hanC
The blankets were worth thousands O
dollars, What they are worth now
proble NAUTICAL but the loss Ia certai
to be very large. The fire got into tn
agricultural implements. shelf hard
ware. garden tools, and many of tn
branches of the trade where none
mounts up big. II will be several day
before even an approximate idea can b
gained of the loss. The last inventor
was taken January !, and In order t
find what was on hand the invoice
and shipments from that time on wi
have to he reckoned up.
Smith r. Henry stated Sunday evenin
that as soon as possible the buildin
would be put back In shape and tina