New Britain herald., 1927-10-28
FIRE IN GARAGE
 THREATENS BLOCKS
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automobiles. which in turn set fire to the roof and the doors and within a few minutes. the entire building ! was blazing and great tongues of | fire swirled high into the air. licking the wooden verandas on the rrar Of the buildings and sending large , clouds of smoke rolling out beyond the skyline, all of which gave the impression that confagration was destroying the entire business dis , trict in the block. A number of cars were driven out Of the Central garage just as the blaze made its way through the partition separat- ing it from the burning building, but its progress was checked with only a slight scorching to the inside roof,
 Central fire headquarters was mo- titied of the fire by telephone at 1o:14 o'clock. At approximately the same time. word spread through the business district that several stores were burning, and when an alarm came in from Box 14 at 10:15 o'clock the shrieking of the siren brought several hundred spectators, many of them in automobiles, while the windows in City hall, the Bur ritt hotel, the New Britain National Bank building and other buildings nearby were dotted by humanity. Although the fire itself was not visible from these places, the smoke could be seen rolling out in increas- ing volume as the firemen poured water from several lines of hose into the garage itself. and sprayed the burning verandas to prevent a spread of the flames. Hose was laid from hydrants on the west side of Central Park, through the driveway between the B. C. Porter Sons bulld- ing and the building directly north, and also from the hydrant at the Globe Clothing House corner through the space to the west of the building in which the Globe is To- cated. Co. 1, Go. and Co. ladder responded to "still' alarm and Co. f, Co. 8, Co. and Co. ladder an- swered the bell.
 Hose Lines Block Traffic
 First Deputy Chief E. r. Barnes was in charge of the fight and Sec ond Deputy Chief NJ. T. Souney, who was off duty, assisted him. A num- Der of firemen who were off duty responded. The alarm was rung by Fireman Richard Collins, chiefs driver, who was off duty. Fireman William Finneran of Co. No. lad der company suffered cuts on the hand from glass. He was attended by Dr. Frank Zwick and remained on duty.
 Because Of the lines of hose ex- tending across the street on the west side of the park, the police routed traffic in both directions on the east side, and allowed traffic to go east on West Main street, between the traffic light in front of City hall, and the National Bank corner.
 Deputy Chief Barnes said other fires have been caused by the incin- orator, but none as serious as that of this forenoon. Building Inspec- tor A. N. Rutherford said the gar age, which was practically destroyed, will not be rebuilt of wood as the ordinances will not permit of it.
 While the work of clearing away the debris was under way Chlef Barnes made a careful inspection Of the premises and found that there were loose bricks in the inCinerator, which had probably allowed fire to ignite the north wall of the garage. He said the building itself was not of great value, but had the gasoline tanks on the two automobiles eX- plodcd and the fire had been gwen a greater start, serious sltuatloh would have presented itself. T call it a good stop" he said.
 All Apparatus Called Out
 Every piece of fire apparatus m the city department was called out within 16 minutes early this after noon, and the successive blasts or the siren and the roar of the trucks going through the center of the city caused considerable excitement. Fire headquarters and the Herald office were deluged with telephone re- quests for information relative 10 the fires, and Captain Kelly at police headquarters was also besieged WFh calls. The report gained wide cir cuation that a general alarm had been sounded for a destructive fire