New Britain herald., 1924-10-29
Water Street And Ad- joining Sections Saved Only By Diligent Work Of Bremen, Aided By Tugboat.
Actual Loss Is About
 S5O,OOO, But Volunteer,
 Fire Fighters Aid in Pres venting Spread of Blaze.

Norwalk, Conn, Oct. 2o.--A fire which for a time this morning threatened to wipe out a great pars or Water street and adjoining, streets dld damage estimated at $35,O0O to buildings owned by the NorwalK Coal and Supply Co. and the Harris and Cans Coal Co. The blaze threats ened to consume the entire old Cros Tut and Knapp plant. It burned sheds, barns and wagons in the rear of the plant owned by the Harris and Cans Coal Co. and then famed by stiff breeze blowing from the waters front swept on down through the old vacant factory and only by dlnt of hard work on the part of the firemen was the blaze checkeds
 Sparks Blown About
 Buildings on the west side of Water street which were also for. merly used by the Crofut and Knapu Co. were threatened several times. while the fire was raging. The roofs of these buildings caught fire no less than five times. but each time were extinguished by men who were stationed on the roofs by Fire Chief George w. Bogardus. A house owns ed by the Cuneo estate was also threatened several times, the roof catching fire eight times as the re- suit of che flying sparks. The fire- men were even called to- the plant of the Cable Mole Co. in Raymond street to extinguish a fire that start ed on the roof of the buildings there. This plant is about 400 yards from the fire.
 Every piece of fire apparatus in Norwalk was put into commission to combat the blaze. The tugboat "Norwalk" of the Red Star line, equipped with pumping apparatus was pressed into service and pumped water from the Sound through two lines of hose. Ten lines of hose were used to pour water onto the ! raging furnace,
 Residents Move Things Out
 Residents in houses in Water street in the vicinity moved their furniture from the houses fearful that the entire street would be burn ed out.
 When the fremen arrived on the scene after a general alarm had been turned in they found the builds ings a roaring furnace. The bumper from the central fire station was hooked onto the hydrant at the corr ner of Water and Tolles street. The water pressure before the bumper was hooked on was very low, the streams hardly reaching up to the roofs of the one story buildings in the rear of the plant. It is cer- tainty that if the fire department had not been equipped with the two bumpers. the entire section would have been wiped out and damage amounting to several hundred of thousands of dollars done. Too much cannot be said regarding the value of the work ot the two bumpers In checking the blaze.
 Boat On Fire
 The Rosalie, freight boat owned by the Hansen Steamship line and which was anchored in the rear of the old Crofut and Knapp plant, caught fire shortly after F o'clock today as a result of flying sparks from the burning building and was towed out into the harbor by the tugs Norwalk and Huntington, of ths Red Star line, where the vessel was still burning this afternoon.
 The freight boat had recently un- dergone extensive repairs and was about to he put into commission. running between Albany and New York. The boat was valued at be- tween slO,OO0 and sl50O0. This brings the total loss as a result of the fire up to about S50,00O.