New Britain herald., 1923-02-05
MERIDEN CARS AND
 BARNS DESTROYED
Fire Does Great Damage in
 Silver City

MerideR, Feb 5,-A sPeelaeuls
 hlaze, discovered at a;l0 o'clock ges
 teFdaY morning destroyed The conRee
 Iieut company barns on Pratt street
 and for a time threatened 10 wipe on
 a number of nearby residences, Al
 though no accurate estimate 0f thl
 damage could he obtained from olfi
 eials af The trolley company, il is es
 timated that the loss will total elost
 10 sis0,000 Sixteen pieces Of rolling
 stock were destroyed with the build
 ings,
 Included in the desiFuctaR wa'
 the residence, owned and occupied es
 Antonio sanlara, which was Wlthin |
 lew feet from the rear end Of she Connecticut company property, The loss ta the house and contents amounts 10 about sl,500, The house caught fire shortly after the blaze started m the barns and was practi- eally destroyed, Mir, santora's house is at the end Of a lane that runs n0rtherly from Miller street adjacent 10 the Manning, Bowman and com- pany property Two other houses on this street were saved by the appliea- ton of streams Of water on the roofs
 Parolman Alix Gave Alarm
 While passing through the Lines company lot on Miller street on his way home PAtrolman Joseph AllN who had lust gone off duty at police headquarters, saw smoke issuing from the buildings and rang in an aarm from Box ii5 at the corner Of Pratt and Twiss streets. As soon as Fire Chief Donovan saw the blaze he or- dered a second alarm from Box iS which is at the Pratt street headquar- fers.
 Dense clouds of smoke were pour ing from the huge car barns within n few moments after the first alarm. and il was only q short time before the whole structure was a mass of flames. Realizing the danger Of the fire spreading 10 the tenement houses close to the barns, Chief Donovan or dered his men to attack the fire in such way as to guard against any advance at the east and southern ends of the property.
 An attempt to remove some of the cars was made by William Florence and John Bovay, the only employees on duty at the time. The men found, however, that the fire had melted the power line at the rear of the shed making it impossible to move any of the stock. They were forcing one arge double truck passenger car out of the barn when the intense heat made further work out of the ques- | ion.
 f6 Cars Destroyed.
 The double truck car was moved | ar enough from the building so that { was only slightly damaged. how sver The cars burned were as fol- ows: Three open passenger cars, five ,losed passenger cars, one sweeper, our blows, one line car, one stone car md one fiat car. The loss included. | therefore, all the company's apparatus lsed in clearing the tracks of snow.
 Eight families in the four-story enement block owned by Mrs. Cecelia Tale at 135 Pratt street, which IS within few feet of the trolley shed md four other families. in two small lOuSGS dl lIt Icdl VI tIht bioSN 'N'~ breed to leave their homes as mat CT of safety Sergeant Kurcon and oatrolman Kelley ran into the tene- nents and ordered all of the occu- ants into the street. Two women be- anne hysterical and had to be assist il outside where they were revived Luickly.
 Saturdays Receipts Saved.
 When the flames had been subdued,
 safe containing the Saturday re- eipts was recovered from the ruins f the mems room at the rear of the ffice building, with no damage to the ontents, which amounted to about 2.000 or s3,000.
 To assure safety to the firemen and thers at the scene of the fire, Super ,tendent Robert P. Lee orderd his nemen to make cuts in the power line ! t either end of the barns. While the -ork was being done the city service as held up for few minutes but therwise the operation of cars was ot interfered with. Service on the +iddletown line was kept up by trans ,rring passengers to local cars run atWeen stone Strtet anu tilc iohio o'N ation.
 Nearby Tenements Saved. AS the iremen reached the barns ,e fire was bursting through the ont doors of the sheds close to the rge tenement house. Chief Dono- m placed several lines of water -ainst this point, to drive the flames lck, at the same time sending other uads of men to the southern end
 the property to hold the fire from ,reading to the houses at the end of e Miller street lane. Seven streams were thrown into the e from Pratt street hydrants and 70 others from Miller street. Sparks om the barns and from the San- TO house landed on the roofs of the 70 houses adjoining, but well directed reams of water saved them.
 Mir. and Mrs. Santoro were eating eakfast when the fire suddenly en- loped their home. They were forced leave at once and saved practically ne of their furniture. Several ickens in coop in the yard were rned. The Santoros and the resi- nts of the house next to theirs were ken in temporarily by Miss Mulli- n. II
 Cause Not Determined. No cause could be determined as the origin of the fire. The flames re first seen in the southern end