Evening star., 1923-04-18
F|REMEN RESCUED
FROM BLAZING PIT
Thrilling Escape From Death
Unseen by Crowd Watching
$55,O00 Fire at Grosner's.

Featured by a thrilling escape Of
! two fremen from being literally
toasted over 4 raging furnace, a fire
Of undetermined origin last night
swept upward through the three sto-
ries Of the building occupied by Gros-
ners clothing establishment, 1913
d street northwest, leaving in its
| wake damage to this and adjoining
structures and their contents totaling
approximately $4,000. in the unofti-
| cial estimate today Of fire officials.
The two men, whose rescue from a
pit belching great tongues OF flame
was effected unwitnessed by the thou
| sands of theatergoers and others who
gathered on the Avenue, were A. {.
| Kefauver and A. ]. Iipsky. both of
No. engine company. They had low
cred themselves, carrying nose !lne.
from the window of the third story
| rooms OF the y. NJ. II. \. headquar-
| ters. at the corner OF 11th and Penn
| sylvania avenue, to the tin roof OF the
| Grosner building. when, without
| warning, the roof gave way and
| plunged the two men into furiously
blazing dumb waiter shaft. which
| marked the vortex Of the confiagra-
| tion.
] Appeared Lost.
! Clinging perilously to the nearly
! perpendicular sides of the caved-in
! tin surface by clutching d hot ven-
| tilator pipe and bractng their feet
| against the up-curled edge of the
| roof and shielding their faces from
the leaping blaze by pulling their
I helmets over their eyes, the two
| firemen appeared lost in the blaze
to Capt. OConnor and his mates
| staring from the window ten feet
above.
The hose, which had slipped out
| of reach of the men, was shoFeu
| down again and the rescuers were
! rewarded to feel il graSped. Kefau-
yer managed to hold on and was
| drawn up, but LipSky, balancing HIM
! self blindly over the verttable fur
| mace. could not reach it when it was
! showed back toward him.
Rescues Comrade.
Kefauver then insisted on climbing
back through the window TO help his
comrade in distress. He allowed
! himself to be held by Capt. O'ConnoT
and his men. and reaching downward
to the f1ame-enveloped Lipsky, sue
ceeded in catching his fingers in a
| leather strip on the latter's coat
sleeve. and finally in drawing him to
| safety.
| win IhdI men deatli
into their work as though they had
not just been snatched from death.
Fire Marshal Seib, on inspecting
| the damaged property today. estl-
| mated that the loss to the Grosner
building would amount to around
5000 and to the contents from S40,-
| 600 to $4,000. The building is own
| ed by the Orme estate. and the con-
tents by Grosners. of which Gerald
o. Grosner is proprietor. The struc-
ture occupied by the United Cigar
stores and the Y. NJ. II. A. and owned
| by D. J. Kaufman was damaged by
water. and on the third floor. by fire.
men cutting three large holes through
the nine-inch brick wall separating
it from the burning premises. The
building at 1011 D street, occupied by
N. Sickle, novelty dealer. and owned
| by the Kibbey estate. was partially
water-soaked.
Three Alarms Turned.
The fire was discovered about 9:45
pm. by NJ. Gutenberg, secretary OF
| the Y. NJ. H. A. who saw smoke
curling from beneath the second
story floor of the associations rooms.
Going to the third floor he saw the
flames bursting through the roof or
the adjoining building. He went to
the floor below, where about fifty
1 couples were duN ISto
to Ale out quietly and then turned
in an alarm at the corner box.
Three alarms brought out sixteen
engine companies and five truck
companies, under command of Chief
Engineer George Watson and Chief
Nicholson.
The great crowd which assembled
was augmented by part Of the au-
! dience from a nearby theater, who
had come out for intermission. Au-
| tomobiles parked along the curb
| were showed unceremoniously onto
the sidewalk by fremen, who were
endeavorfng to raise a ladder.
Street car traffic on Pennsyivania
avenue was tied up for about half
an hour by hose lines, which later
were lifted on bridges to allow the
cars to pass. Automobile traffic was
detoured by police for several hours.