Evening star., 1925-01-23
FIRE WRECKS NEE
FURNITURE STORE
Seventh Street Establish
ment Swept by Flames,
Boarding Houses PeriIed.

Famed by keen northwest wind.
nre originating in the basement
OF the p J. Nee Furniture Company,
at Seventh and H streets. last night
swept through the length and breadth
of the store in the space of a few
hours, eating furniture and fixtures
until the entire building was a gut
ted ruin, icecoated from the deluge
poured on it by 20 engine companies
Estimated Loss 100000.
Total damage was estimated at $780,
900 today by Fire Marshal L. V. Seib.
after a survey of the wreckage. His in
vestigation also disclosed that the fire
did not start in the packing room as
originally believed, but among cots in
the basement 1t was thought last
night that the furnace might have con-
tributed to starting the fire, but todays
survey definitely located the origin site
in a position, Mr.. Seib said, well away
| from the furnace.
d. c. Shea, manager of the store, ex-
pressed the opinion that the goods in
! the store We're total loss. but Marshal
Seib said there was possibility of con-
siderable salvage. after looking at the
building and contents this morning
Furniture in the place was valued by
Mr.. Shea al approximately $40, 900. No
estimate was placed on the damage to
the building itself. The loss is ma
terially covered by insurance, Mr.. Shea
said.
Boarding Houses ImperiIed.
In the thronEs lining Seventh and
II streets watching the fight Of the
t1remen against spread of the stub
born blaze were scores of residents
of nearby boarding houses to the east
Of the store who had been routed out
of their rooms by the approach OF
. - Il. H. l.
, men cleared two boarding houses on
II street when it was feared the
winds might send tho blaze over the
gap OF an alley into tho residential
section, but no serious casualties
were reported. Sergt. Daniel Sulli-
van, No. Z Engine Company, was the
only fireman reported injured. He
sustained cuts on the hands from
broken glass.
firemen in sending streams up and
over the high walls of the building,
and this so retarded successful fight
| ing of the fire that it was not until
after o'clock that the blaze was
announced Under control"
Damage was not confined to the
| Nee establishment, smoke and water
hltering into four adjoining business
houses on Seventh street.-The Ever
EFT Clothes Shop, the Simon Co, the
r. J. Farley modiste shop and the
Philip Levy Furniture Co, the last
| named getting the least of the
damage.
Hyman Melford, student, en- route
to the naturalization school, is
credited with discovery of the fire.
He was passing on a street car at the
time and saw blaze in the northeast
corner of the structure. He jumped
| from the street car and ran to the
scene, discovering the extent of the
| blaze. Then he sent in an alarm and
rushed into rooming house at 622 II
street, where he spread the alarm
among the tenants, fearing that the
Pblaze might spread into the next
door structure.
Chief Watson placed hose lines at
the southern extremity of the Nee
Building so as to throw a water bar
rage up against the spread of the
fire southWard. This checked the ad-
vance of the flames and confined the
fire itself in the Nee Building.
Fierce Blaze I'm Packing Room.
The packing room was ablaze and
sending tentacles of fame up into
the recesses of the Nee Building when
| firemen arrived, shortly after 1880
| o'clock. Deputy Chief Nicholson sent
| in the second and third alarms, and
when Chief Watson arrived he sound
| ed two more, bringing out a total of
| 20 engine companies, truck COM
panies and 4 fuel wagons-more than
| two-thirds of the total apparatus In
the District. The numbering water
tower was there also, in the role of
| a spectator for the greater part Of
| the evening, after its long record of
| failure to do it's stuff had failed TO
be punctured by successful effort.
| 1t did squirt q stream for a while,
but lapsed back down into somnolent
retirement after the feeble effort. 50
Street car traffic on Seventh street
was halted by the blaze until at
late hour bridges for street-crossing
hoses could be erected over the
| tracks.
Police reserves from various pre-
cIncts were called out to hold the
crowd in check, operating under the
supervision of Inspectors Pratt and
Evans and Capts. Brown and Peck
and Lieuts. Burlingame and Beckett.
Third Big Fire in Two Weeks.
The fire last night was the third
multiple alarm blaze that Washing
toms Fire Department has been called
out on in less than two weeks All
three fires wrecked properties OF big
business establishments. Saturday night.
January ~, hdnn warehouse, dl
Eighth and q streets, was destroyed,
with loss to building, contents and
adjoining property, of 100000. A
general alarm brought out virtually
all of the city's fire fighting forces.
The second large fire was that which
caused $4,000 damage at the factory
| of the Columbia Specially Paper Box
Company, on Hanover street near
First street, one week later. Three
alarms were sounded for that fire.