The Clio messenger., 1920-01-15
SCHOOL BUILDING ON FIRE

Cho's fine, new school building was
saved from destruction by fire, Tues
day morning, by chain of circum-
stances that almost approached the
ydraculous. Mrs. William Miller,
Who lives two doors north of the
school building, discovered some
tiny tongues of flame leaping from
the shingle roof of the old section of
the building, when she stepped out
of door, at about 5:45 in the morn
ing, and at once gave the alarm. At
this time it was still dark, but
oft repeated blasts on the fire whis-
tie at the condensary and the ringing
Of both the fire and school bells, soon
caused citizens to be hurrying from
every direction to render such as
sistance as might be possible. The
fire engine had to be hauled from
the engine house to the scene of the
fire by hand, likewise the hose cart
and hook and ladder wagon. All
this took time, of course, meanwhile
the flames in the roof slowly but
surely spread. On the arrival of
the ladders, w. A. Haven climbed
to the roof and with one Of the hand
extinguishers put out the fire on the
outside, while Fire Chief p. L..
Chown, equipped with nothing more
formidable than a pail of water, had
climbed to the attic and performed
a similar service inside. Thus it
happened that by the time the engine
began to throw water the fire was
practically extinguished, although a
little water was thrown on the roof
and cornice of the building. The
first near miraculous thing that op-
Grated to save the building was the
early discovery of the fire; second,
despite the fact that the roof
Of wood construction, and dry as
tinder, it burned slowly; and third,
the wind, which had been very
high but an hour or so before, had
died down and came from a direction
unfavorable to the spread of the
flames. Knowing of the infammable
construction of the roof, it was the
opinion of many who arrived on the
atene early that the building was
doomed. And while it is possibly
true that this fire might have been
extinguished by the use of the
water apparatus, it was extinguished
with an ordinary hand, chemical ex-
tinguisher, and it is our opinion that
these simple contrivances have saved
more property during the past five
years, in Clio, than all other kinds of
FIRE fighting apparatus together.
Thus, we have present timely eX-
ample proving the wisdom of the
lssmmon council in buying modern,
motor driven, chemical and water
engine and hose wagon. 1t will be
worth while to consider, in this con-
nection, that there is still debt of
somewhere around fifteen thousand
dollars on the school building, with
insurance of possibly little more
than that, and that it would cost to-
day, in all probability, seventy-five
thousand dollars to replace the build
ing with something equally commodl-
Gus. Considering further, the high
school tax we are now paying in this
district, it can be seen that we es-
capped a disaster of more than ordi-
nary magnitude, Tuesday morning.
We are not inclined to be critical of
school board members, because they
are all capable citizens who are
undoubtedly doing their very best to
serve the patrons of the district, but
we do venture the suggestion that 1T
might be mighty good plan to have
about half dozen hand extinguish-
ers distributed throughout the school
building, also that hose sufficient to
reach any room in the building be
kept ready for instant use. In any
village where there is not paid tire
department, it is the means of quick
action, such as these, that saves
great deal of property. The roof
on the old part of the building, where
it caught fire, is, we understand,
about worn out, and-it will undoubt-
edly be replaced with one of better
fire resisting qualities than shingle.
The janitor, Elmer Coles, had been
over to the building half an hour or
more before the fire was discovered
and started fire, and as the chimney
was observed to be burning out,
little later, it is very probable that
some Of the burning SCOT dropped on
the roof ard set it on fire.