New Britain herald., 1922-02-27
Fire Confined To Attic Over Kitchen of New Britain Club; Water Does Damage In City Executives Office
Mayor 0. F. Curtis and Chief w. J. Rawlings Escape Injury When Ceil. ing Collapses.

Damages estimated by Chief W. J. Noble at slo.oo0, resulted from a fire this morning in City Hall in an attic directly over the kitchen of the New Britain club. The damages were al- most entirely the result of water soaking from the streams of water shot into the club rooms in an effort to check the flames from spreading to city administrative offices and other tenants of the building.
 Wiring is Blamed
 Several theories have been advance cd as to the cause of the fire. Mana ger Joseph Sheppard of the club ex- pressed himself as of the opinion that defective wiring was responsible for the outbreak and this belief is shared by Head Waiter Garrity, who said that on several occasions in the past he had extinguished fires of small consequence in the attic, due to the wiring.
 The Garret is rarely used by tho lclub. Old furnishings of all descrip- tions are stored there, but there are no rooms used as sleeping quarters. nor are there rooms for the storage of foods, etc, to which employees go daily.
 Rats Gnaw Insulation
 On several visits to the attic, Mr. Garrity has noticed, he said, that the 1 insulation on the wires had been gnawed off hy rats, which overrun the attic. When the lights were thrown on. sparks fly in every direction, he said, The insulation has been re- placed repeatedly by the employees of ithe club. but it is but brief period before it is again removed by the TO- dents.
 Chief Noble Dissgrecs | Chief Noble does not consider tho wiring theory to he a correct one, l however. CareleSsness in the use of | the attic, he feels, may have been Icontrihutory to the fire but in the absence of thorough investigation he could not state with deiniteness that this was responsible for today's outbreak.
 Chief Noble Skeptical In the attic the chief found cof- flee -percolater that had been over- turned. He questioned employees of the club as to whether or not there had been fire under the percolator, but could find no one who had beeu in the garret for some time prior to the fire. The theory that someone in one of the upper offices had careless ly thrown a cigarette butt onto the roof was set aside when it was found that the blaze had originated under the entrance to the attic,
 Manager Sheppard had stepped out of the rooms on business when the alarm was spread Mir. Bishop who is connected with an engineering firm occupying offices on the fourth floor noticed smoke coming out Of the crevices under the roof and through a skylight just outside the window of his office He climbed out onto the roof and removed the door, directing the contents of fire extinguisher down into the garret. The chemi- calls having failed to take any effect on the fire. apparently, he ran down. stairs and spread the alarm through the club.
 ExtinguiSherS Tried.
 Mir. Garrity then headed up the steep stairs into the attic with an ex- tinguisher. The low roof held the smoke down to such an extent that he was forced to return 10 the kitchen for fresh air. After three futile att tempts to eAtinguish the fire. tele- phone call was sent intot fire head quarters and the several companies responded under the direction of Chief Noble
 Employees of the club and clerks at the charity and school board off, fees fled when the fire began to take on serious proportions. Mayor o. F. Curtis, whose office is directly below the dining room of the club was in conference with Chief of Police w. J. Rawlings when the water loosened the plaster overhead and heavy piece fell between the two city off cias. Needless to say. they lost no time in getting out of the office. l .ater, as Thomas Under Daniel Fitz- patrick and David Ellison were re- the costly furniture from the office to save it from the effects of water another and larger piece of the ceiling collapsed and they were obliged to leave the room for their own safety.
 School Board Asfcctcd.
 The play of hose ccntered about the dining hall. directly over the school board offices. When the water begn to pour through the ceilings, 1t was thought wise to remove records and E furniture from that department so that they might be saved from possi- ble destruction. The main corridor was filled with desks, files and book ,ases that were hurriedly carted out by city employees. Some of the fur 1iture was slightly damaged by water
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