Imperial Valley press., 1933-07-28
F|REMEN GET
THREE CALLS
Department Kept Busy By Ser
ious Fires During Extreme
Hot Spell.

Three alarms, two of them for
serious fires, kept local firemen
busy during the past "a hours and
caused damage amounting to sever
al thousands of dollars, according
to estimates.
The first blaze destroyed the
Hartner Packing shed at Third and
Brighton streets late yesterday af-
ternoon, resulting in an estimated
loss of $1,000. Cause of the fire
was undetermined.
The loss was partly covered by
insurance but the Shook Supply
company lost eight carloads
of shook valued at $4,000 upon
which there was no insurance.
Strobel brothers also lost supplies
and equipment as they had been
using one section of the building.
The building loss was about $4,000.
Fire started on the outside of the
i l20-foot galvanized iron building in
pile of box ends piled on the
south side. 1t spread so rapidly
through the dry wood, as a result
of southwest wind, that the whole
building was aflame in a few sec
onds.
The third fire proved to be a
hoodoo for the shed as firemen
saved the whole building from des-
tructlon once before and also once
saved part of it from fire, accord
ing to Tom Reams, fire chief.
Location of the building between
the storage plants of the Signal
Oil and Standard Oil companies
added to the hazard. Thousands of
gallons of gasoline were contained
in the huge tanks of the compan-
les. The wind started blaze on
the north side of one section of
the tanks but was extinguished be-
fore damage resulted. An exploS-
ion at either plant undoubtedly
would have resulted in widespread
death and wipel out a large area
of homes and industrial buildings
en- the East Side.
The Garin shed, situated to the
east of the Hartner shed, was afire
in hundreds of places and streams
of water were played upon it for
hours in order to save it. The
damage to this shed is estimated at
5000, Chief Reams said.
Firemen fought the flames until
after 8 O'Clock last night and two
men remained at the site all night.
Huge piles of excelsior used in fruit
and vegetable packing Smoldered
for hours.
A loss of $40 to a cigar an Gig
arctic counter in Cox Brothers
grocery on Main street resulted
from a fire started last night by a
clerk who dropped match when
il burned his fingers, Chief Reams
said today.
Mr.. and Mrs. G.. r. Scriven were
passing the store shortly after 8
| clock last night. Mrs. Scriven
noticed a blaze in the cigar case
and Scriven turned in the alarm,
which brought Bill woodward. vol
unteer fireman, from across the
street. They broke the glass and
| had the fire out when the depart
ment apparatus arrived.
At 3 o'clock this morning fire OF
undetermined origin broke out in
a rear bedroom of the Arthur
Burke house at $50 Ell Centro ave-
nue.. Guy Cooper, Mrs. Burke S
brother, was sleeping in the front
OF the house and the heat awak-
ened him. He could not reach the
telephone in the house and had to
summon neighbors to telephone the
alarm.
! approximately $1,000 damages to
furniture and building resulted be-
fore firemen could put out the fire.
The rear bedroom, kitchen and
hallway were damaged.
Chief Reams said today the
weather is hot enough to fry eggs
in the shade but for real heat, the
Hartner shed fire was the worst
Dense clouds of smoke hampered
the work of firemen, he said.