New Britain herald., 1928-01-06
TIE SCHOOL HOUSE BLAZE

THE SCHOOL HOUSE BLAZE
 New Britain was treated to spectacular blaze indeed last eve ming, and 2 very grateful one tc about $50 children. when the lsrae Putnam school. in the north end ol the city, was practically demolished It was an unfortunate event. though for the city. which had just started te congratulate itself upon catching up with the demand for housing pupils. Nov the children must be placed In other. already overcrowd' ed plants, VI assume. although final provision for their accommodation had not been made at this writing As far as loas to the city Is con- cerned, it wtu be great, unques' tionably. as the old building will have to be replaced with a newer more modern one. Even though the full amount of insurance is collected which is doubtful, the replacement unit will cost more.
 The extreme heat of the fire. the complete destruction of the building is . cause of wonder to many, Pre- sumably the blaze started in the neighborhood of the heating plant in the center of the structure. For over an hour the fire ragged. Fire men were powerless. Not that they did not put up a good fight. they did, but determined efforts to con- auer the blaze were unavailing until the roof was a wreck and the build. inx an empty shell. Then. and not until then. there was an opportunity to play hoses upon the burning tim bers.
 It would appear to c casual ob server that the construction of the building was the cause of its de struction. It is possible that tho blaze had been smoldering for sev' eral hours. We can imagine Il creeping up inside partitions until il reached a blind attic over the first and only story. There 1t was cap. ped" by . roof of slate shingles and held in check until the creeping coals had thoroughly tmpregnated every pine beam. the tarpaper that formed a lining, and other combust ible material in the attic. Finally q break in tho roof was found and air rushed in. This ignited the gase, formed in the attic and the whole structure burst from smolderine beams and . gas filled attic into : gigantic torch. blazing from the center, where the vent had develop. ed. and stil held by the slate roof al the sides.
 When the firemen appeared th' same roof resisted their attacks witt water. Instead Of reaching the fire their hose was pouring back onto the ground. The vent was not large enough, as yet. to allow all of th' smoldering matter to blaze. Ga! was still being formed and shoot ing Into the air, igniting. sometimes many feet above the actual fire after 1t had collected sufficient aiI 10 make it combustible. Thus i went. until enough of the roof sup port beams, burnt out underneatl the slate. had colla psed to allow fire men to reach the blaze and tn, turning point of the fire had beer reached. That was not until about al hour and a quarter after the fir, was first seen. The handicap of low water pressure was offered the fire men as well as the trouble with th' roof.
 All Of which goes to prove tha similar situations in future con struction should be carefully avoid cd. Blind attics are out of place en tirely, heating plants should not b. too centrally located. The elat. shingles are undoubtedly fire re sistant from the outsiae. they als' kept the fire in the Israel Putnam building until if was uncontrollable II is quite possible. had there beer wooden shingles that the fam would have made its way immediate ly 10 the air, been seen and som, of the building saved. That howeve is a debatable point. The use Of pin in construction may or may not b necessary. That IS also q debatabl matter. But 1t makes a stubborn blaze when 1t starts.
 REDUCING THE DEBT
 Figures don't lie: end when the,