The evening herald. (Klamath Falls, Or.) 1906-1942, 1920-10-08

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and protective measures. and have
assumed the attitude that the gov
ernment Of Klamath Falls II COM
petent to take care OF It's interests
without outside interference. A.,
To substantiatc tho above. We
quote q paragraph from a type writ
ten communication dated Januar-
23. 1890 to the state fire marshall
written on the official stationery OF
tho city attorney OF Klamath Falls
and signed I. r. Strubie, mayor:
Personally I fail to under
stand how the fire marshai's
office can assume Jurisdiction
over a matter OF this sort. as
this city Is a self governing
community and the people elect
Its officers to use their judg-
ment In the government OF the
city. They should be more com
pstent TO know who are quail
fied TO act a. officials Of the
city. than someone who prob
ably has never seen the city In
his life. or who does not live
here"
Facilities Or0ssly Deficient
When the Houston hotel fire broke
out there were only three persons on
duty At the fire department. to-wit:
Fire Chief Keith Ambrose and two
volunteer firemen. Assistant Fire
Chief Mark Howard. the only other
paid fireman. was away on his vaca-
tion. The. sole fire fighting equip
ment available for combating the
blaze was q triple combination. mo.
tor driven fire truck the capacity Of
which Is $50 gallons per minute and
about 5000 feet OF hose. 1900 feet
OF which was Of com mparatively receri
purchase. The fire chief Is also
driver Of the truck. He drove the
engine to the nearest hydrant from
the fire where the two volunteer
alighted and strung the first line OF
hose and then drove on and strung
the second and third lines alone.
About this time Sheriff Humphrey
and one or two other citizens ar
rived to render assistance.
Competent witnesses. including
the man who drives the street clean
Ing apparatus and the night patrol
man who were among the first to
have been spprised OF the fire. testi-
fled at the inquest and at our Inquiry
that II required from Is TO II min
utes to get the alarm through cen
trail to the department. The night
telephone operator says that the call
was received and put through with
dispatch. The fire was discovered
At 3:l7 and the alarm was not re-
ceived at the department until 3:35
according to testimony. Certain II
Is. that the department was late In
arriving upon the scene and the fire
had gained much headway.
Water Pressure Falls
The water pressure during the
early stages OF the fire was very
low. Had II been adequate or up to
standard Fire Chief Ambrose 10 con-
fident that he could have confined
the blsse to the hotel at least and
saved oil Of the other buildings dss-
troyed aud possibly could have saved
the lives OF some Of the innocent VIC
Tins. During the first few minutes
Of the play OF the first line OF hose
there was fair pressure. all agree.
but the pressure went off some say
for Q period OF from ten to fifteen
minutes during which interval the
heat became % intense that the fire
|, fighters were forced to give ground.
Several residents In the same block
could got NO vstsr from their garden
hose. One man could not get enough
water in his house to cleanse bis
false teeth.
Water system officials account for
this serious deficiency In the face of
such an emergency when the first
few minutes means the winning or
losing of . battle against the fire
fiend - being due to the crossing
Of wires and shutting Oft Of the cur.
rent TO the auxiliary pum:per which
supplies water directly into the
meina Il was also admitted that
oas Of the three rsssrvoirs which