New Britain herald., 1926-02-25
Explosion Draws At- tention of Policeman To Flames In Store In Curtin Block.
Floor in Center of Place Found Caved ln-Police Say Gas Might Have Been Turned On.

been turned On.
 .An carly morning blaze, accou- panied by an explosion at 2:j. o'clock, damaged tho Specially stor, 4JS Main street, To the extent ot S2i,o00 and endangered the lives oI threo families living on the upr floors Of the Curtin block in whaf fire and police officials intimate ma} h. q fire of questionable origin.
 lsadoro NenooN, @% Summ.r street. manager of the store coulH not be located this morning. and if is understood that he is with hj~ wife in NoW Jersey. who recently underwent an operation, An uu ploye of the firm stated this mosw. ing that the store was covered us $lS.p00 insurance, ], r., Curtin, uur of the owners of the block, said thai the entire building was fully cu} cred by insurance and that none uf the other sections were damaged hy smoke.
 Policeman Heard Explosion
 While he was walking along Main street, Officer Otis Hopkins heard an explosion. saw a flare Of flames in the Specially store, and ran To Box at the corner of Main and Commercial streets. where he turu- cd in an alarm, which WIS rcspond- ded 10 by Companies |. ., 5, and {, Commandcrcd by Chief William J. Noble and Deputy Chief Eugene F, Barnes.
 When the fire lepartsent arrived at the scene Of the contia2ration they found that the floor in the center of the store was cavcd in. presumably from the explosion, and that flames were leaping up from the rear Of the store. Chief Nohit ordered the store flooded, and foul lines of hose were put into sefvice.
 Hole in Floor Flinders Bremen
 The fremcn were impeded be cause of the dangerous condition ot { the floor and because of the heavy clouds of smoke which poured from the building, For time, Chief Noble said. the fire threatened to become serious but after gallant work by his men, the last of th, burning tlmhers was tXtinguished al S:30. An engine remained on tb, scene until 9 o'clock. to preVtu, damage from any further outbreak
 Chief Noble declared that the fir,
 vas the "toughcst' the local depart. ment has had in some time, and l.,
 compimented his men for the was
 in which they confined the flames {, the one store Al one time flames al,
 their way into the furniture store o
 j. NJ. Curtin X O.. but d hose wa,
 quickly put into the store and ther,
 was practically no damage, Cht.
 Noble contended that this fire Na'
 more difficult to handle than tn
 Palace thcater tirr
 Noble to Investigate
 "rhere certainly will be au iuyrs
 tigation into this fire" declare,
 Chief Noble. Indications seem |,
 point that the fire was not acct dental. We have had the place uu
 der Investigation for some time. an,
 have made regular inspections U
 the store in order 10 prevent fire.
 Chief Eugene F. Barnes took tv, Herald reporters through the drip : ping store, and pointed out that th store was most severely damaged il
 the rear basement, near the furnac, , The timbers were completely burn cd, and the floor caved in just br 5 yond the center Of the fire. Tn . flames were confined to the rear c ! the basement. All or the windows i . the building were shattered by th . explosion.
 Q Chief Barnes declared that lh [ National Board ot Underwriters ha T furnished him with information tha l. Nencok has q fire record in Pas Y saiC, x. J., where he is said 10 hay had two stor- tires \ stoCkroom (
 his in which there was a pile ( U rubbish caught adre recently. bl u Chief Barnes said that 1t was not = the same building as his store. u Gas Pipe Believed Left Open u One theory which is advanced 1 |" the police as to the cause of Il . fire is that the gas pipe was opent , and allowed 10 remain open until v, exploded when the gas came in cor
 tact with the heat from the furnac D Chief Barnes explained that Il ., explosion was probably caused b
 cause of gases which formed fro s the burning elements, having ' ,- way to escape. He pointed out tn .t the windows in the building were { ,v closed, making the store virtual is airtight. preventing any air fro d coming into the building. He ga .o that such an explosion is freque lv at fires. He also said that there W ,o no way of determining just hC ,t long the fire had been in progrt
 before the explosion.
 ,- Although Chief Of Police Willia a (. Hart refused 10 state whether [ ,o police would conduct an investig is ton. Sergeant Patrick o'Mara W st seen looking through the store Il
 morning.
 n- An employee Of the store told he F. Curtin that Neuook is accuston n-. .n rn tn Nau- Nnrl. t,-nra s,-raL--er