The Bismarck tribune. [volume] (Bismarck, N.D.) 1916-current, 1930-03-17
WAKE FIRE TRAP
TOFLEE WIYHbAbY
LICKED BY FLAMES
Early Sunday Morning Blaze
Starting in Kitchen Turns
Apartment to Furnace


AS flames licked their faces, Frank
II. specht, his wife and baby son es-
capped from their rooms on the real
side, second floor. Of the Hughes
apartments, IT'S Thayer avenue, at 6
o'clock Sunday morning, when
trapped by q fire whose o. and
heat had awakened them.
The Spechts got away from the
flames by smashing a window. passing
over a back roof in their night clothes
and descending to the street through
the apartment Of one of their three
neighbors in the building.
Olsons Driven Out Also
Mr.. and Mrs. Archie Olson and
their 7~-year-old daughter. June, who
occupied an apartment in front Of
that in which the Spechts lived, also
fled when the flames began breaking
through the Specht kitchen, where
the blaze, evidently the result of de-
fective electric wiring. had started.
Specht is in a local hospital as a
result of his experience in the fire.
TO escape, when he found 1t impossi-
bic to pass through the flame in the
Don adjoining their sleeping apart
ment, he broke the window at the
head Of the bed and the storm win
dow outside, then helped Mrs. Specht
out to the back roof and passed their
baby son, Frank, jr., Eve months
old, to her.
Baby's Face Cut by Glass
The baby rolled over on its face
when passed out to the mother and
was cut on the forehead and beside
the left ear by the broken glass Of
the window. Specht was so severely
cut on the arms and body that it
took about Is stitches to close his
wounds. He also was severely burned
on the shoulders.
Mrs. Specht was burned over the
cheek bones, her arms. forehead and
on the lips, the lower n bearing a
large blister. Neither she nor the
baby were sufficiently injured to re-
quire stay in the hospital.
Spechts Lose All
The interior of the Specht apart
ment is charred throughout and the
2-by-4 studding is burned through in
the kitchen walls, which were con-
structed of a type of fabricated board.
All the furniture Is either burned
completely or ruined by charring.
Most of their clothing also Is ruined.
Mrs. Specht estimated a loss Of more
than 81, 900, uninsured. Their furni-
ture ran to nor than $500 in value.
A radio outfit, electric sewing ma
chine and other modern household
ConvenienceS were included.
w. A. Hughes, who represents the
owner Of the apartments. could not
estimate the loss on the building. 1t
is confined almost entirely to the
6pecht rooms. The building is in
sured, he said.
Greeted by Gust Of Flame
When Specht was awakaned' about
6 o'clock by the heat and the roaring
of the flames in the adjoining room
he opened the door a bit to see what
was happening on the other side. A
blast Of flame struck him in the face.
The door would not shut tightly
again, and he and the wife had ia
break their way out through the win
dow while the flame licked at them
through the open crack Of the door.
When the firemen reached the
apartment, they broke in the door at
the head of the stairway and were
met by a flaming blast from the
Specht rooms. They turned two
streams Of water into the apartment
and also used their chemical tanks or
the blaze. AS the fire seemed to sink
they explored the frail walls, ane
wherever q hole vas punched. flame
spurted forth. The whole interior Of
the walls was filled with fire. Flame:
also mounted through the roof, which
was capped by a small cuploa. Quick
response and action prevented thu
fire from spreading to the entire
building and also to the German
weekly, Rundschau, under the two
burning apartments.
The department stayed at thu
building two hours. sweeping ane
shoveling out water after the flame:
had been extinguished.
Mrs. Specht and the baby are being
temporarily sheltered at the home o.
Mr.. and Mrs. M. H. Cook. PIG Secone
street.