The Brattleboro daily reformer. (Brattleboro, Vt.) 1913-1955, 1921-12-22
FLAMES THREATEN
NEARBY BUILDINGS
50-Mile Gale Sweeps Sparks
Over Large Area, But Ad-
joining Property Is Saved
Big Crowd Watches
COnflagratiOn i'm Below
Zero Temperature - All
Tickets Saved
Especial to The Reformer.)
BELLOWS FALLS. Dec

The Bellows Falls union station was
completely destroyed by fire about 10
O'Clock last night with an estimated
loss of 100000. Three consecutive
alarms called out the entire fire depart
ment and all available equipment, but
fair headway in the partitions of the
building and failure to get water for a
time gave the fire department little
chance In less than three-quarters of an
hour from the time of the first alarm the
building had fallen TO the ground a total
loss
The fire was first discovered by smoke
on the outside Of the building but inyes-
tigation showed nothing and bystanders
thought a passing engine had caused
temporary cloud of smoke. A few min
utes later those in the waiting room no
| ticed smoke coming from a crack in the
ceiling and a waitress in the restaurant
reported smoke in that portion of the
I building. Fire began to show along the
/ west partition at the ceiling and il was
! then that Albert T. Bolles of this place
who, with his father, 4. /. Bolles. had
been waiting for a train, gave the alarm
from the box near the Vermont Farm Ma
chine Co. plant.
| The chemical outfit from Rockingham
street station was the first equipment
to arrive. carrying several thousand feet
of hose and about a dozen firemen. Two
4 lines of hose were laid in double quick
| faShion-one from the hydrant in front
of the Bellows Falls garage on Canal
street and the other from the hydrant
near the Vermont Farm Machine plant.
BY this time fire could be seen in the
/ ceiling sweeping across the entire wait
! ing room. Fireman Breen had started
hole in the ceiling between the ticket
IL, nF
Eugene Cray, who had been called from
/ bed, arrived and took charge. A window
near the ticket office had become broken
accidentally and as the flames broke
through the ceiling the draft famed the
/ flames into a bigger blaze. Water was
no water came. and the tiremen, in the
| face of the intense heat, were forced to
the outside of the building.
One of the hydrants was then found to
| be frozen solid, and the second on Canal
street refused to open. 1t was FIVE min
on the building, which was admittedly
doomed.
The interior of the building, which was
remodeled throughout in 1900, was pan
eled in spruce and dried with age This
material only hastened the contia iagration
and flames poured from all the windows
| on both the first and second floors. a
50-mile gale from the north carrying
/ burning pieces of wood and sparks di-
rectly toward the Boston 4 Maine freight
/ house and Rand's livery stable beyond
on Bridge street.
Attention was turned toward these
buildings and with constant streams of
/ water both the freight house and Ameri-
can express building We're saved with
only slight damage by the heat
| Nearly 1000 persons had arrived and
stood shivering in the slightly below zero
atmosphere when the roof of the depot
fell, and it was a beautiful sight if the
disaster of it could have been ignored.
The flames shot hundred feet into the
air and. caught by wind so strong as
to almost turn back the streams of water
from the several hose now in use, the
blaze swept with renewed fury toward
the wooden freight sheds. Only quick
work &on the part of the fire fighters pre-
ICnnfinn,nA o.. Ilora \