Alexandria gazette. [volume] (Alexandria, D.C.) 1834-1974, 1922-02-09
TREASURY FIRE
IMPERlLS
OF $500 CLERKS
Valuable Records Are Burn
ed and Damaged
by Water
DAMAGE ABOUT $4,000
EMPLOYEES Leave Building Without
C0nfusion--Ruge Crowd Watches
Blaze from Streets and Roofs

Washington, Feb. 9.--Fire which
broke out on the roof of the Treasur!
building at $50 o'clock yesterday
followed by an explosion which threw
flames into the duplicating room i'm
reriled the lives of $500 government
employees.
Accelerated by the explosion of a
ten-gallon kerosene tank in temper
ary frame structure on the roof near
the center of the building, in winch
flames originated, and high wind,
flames were soon shooting into the
air and spreading rapidly to other sec
tions of the roof and the 40 by 80 foot
tower attached to the building.
An alarm was sounded from the
photostat tower Immediately after
the blaze began, and employees OF
the building were warned OF the llre
as the alarm sounded instanteouSly
in the office of the captain of the
watch and all sections of the tour
floors of the building.
AS downtown companies were an
swering the first alarm, the 1900 en-
ployes, mostly women, began their ex-
odus. Without rushing or showing
signs of panic the. clerks left the up
per floors, and under direction OF
members of the watch force were
guided from the crowded basement
floor in orderly fashion, All eleva-
tors in the building were quickly put
into operation, although an hour be-
fore closing time. Within twenty min
utes most of the employees had left
the building.
Fire Chief Watson. who saw the
smoke pouring from the building as
the first alarm sounded in his Office, a
>.block away, rushed to the Treasury
offices. He Immediately turnedin sec
j ond and a third alarm, bringing all
: fire companies within radius of two
miles to the scene.
Priceless records and some original
plans for government buildings, used
by the fifty craftsmen working In the
photostat tower, were damaged or de-
stroyed. The damage, it is believed,
will total $4,000. The blaze broke
through the roof into the four floor
directly beneath the drafting rooms
in the tower, but was quickly eX-
tinguished. Water ruined many of the
records left behind in the drafting
rooms, and those on the many tables
in the division of construction rooms
Immediately beneath the blaze on the
roof Water also soaked through from
the fourth floor to the third, damag-
ing records and books in the office of
the Comptroller of the Treasury In
rooms 305 and 307.
Secretary of the Treasury Mellon
last night. however, authorized the
statement that none of the draw
ings or other material relating to SOL
dier hospital construction had been de-
stroyed or damaged in the fire.
BY 4:30 o'clock firemen had gained
complete control Of the blaze and were
centering their attention on the two
burned oil kegs and asphalt vessels.
Chief Clerk w. G. Platt had sum-
moned squad of 100 Treasury De-
partment workmen to the scene by
this time and the men were aiding IN
rescue work on the fourth floor IN
the construction division attempting
to salvage the drafts and architectural
plans for government buildings. Few
original plans were in the rooms OF
the burned tower or the drafting room
directly beneath where water played
havoc, according to the supervising
architect j. A. Wetmore.