Evening star., 1934-01-30
Frigid Wave Wanes After
Reaching Lowest Point
in Four Years.
ICY GALES FAN FIRES;
RELIEF WORK HALTED
South Records Lowest Tempera.
lures in Years-Damages Heavy
in Nearby Blazes.

The frigid wave was definitely on the
wane here today after the coldest
weather Washington has experienced in
four years. The mercury stood at 76
at am, the lowest since January,
1880.
Fair and warmer" is the outlook for
Washington. as well as most Of the
Eastern States, where icy gales have
been tanning disastrous fires, threat
ening ships and halting c. c. c. and
P. W. A. activities in mountainous sec
tons
The temperature dropped to Is be-
low zero on Skyline drive, 100 mics
away in Virginia, early today. hating
c. c. c. and P. w. A. projects. While
it was not nearly so cold in the VAL
leys, old residents said the weather was
the severest they had experienced in
years
Firemen in Washington last night
answered twice as many alarms as
usual. No large fires resulted, how
ever, and the blazes were for the most
part attributed W 4du4ly AueS d443
stoves.
In addition to the fire which wiped
out a family of four at East Riverdale
early today. two other large blazes
were reported in Maryland. one at In
dian Head. where 18 persons were made
homeless. and another at Denton,
whose business section was threatened
for a time.
Colonial Home Destroyed.
Near Alexandria. the Colonial resi-
dence of F. D. Parrish. Washington
commission merchant, and two Of its
outbuildings were totally destroyed by
flames yesterday.
The damage was estimated at S20,OhO.
Two Alexandria fire companies battled
the flames for more than two hours
under adverse conditions.
The Weather Bureau in washington
expects normal temperatures by Thurs
day The cold wave, which came cut
of the Northwest, sending the mercury
to 7 below zero in Chicago, swept the
lowest temperatures in years deep in
to the Southeast.
At Richmond the temperature stood
at 4 degrees this morning. 1t was s
above at Atlanta and Asheville, N. C.,
had a record-breaking low of zero.
Weather this cold or colder prevailed
through the southern Appalachian re-
gion and in Western Maryland and
Virginia.
Loudoun County was experiencing
the coldest weather in 20 years, with
the mercury down to below zero this
morning at Leesburg. All c. w. A.
work was suspended in the vicinity and
the heating plant found difficulty in
II 10 ~ ~1rzT7
Much suffering was reported by welfare
workers in the country districts.
New England today was feeling the
full force of the cold wave, although
storm warnings along the Atlantic
Coast were run down with the dinlin-
ishing gales.
At Mount Washington in New Hamp-
shire, where Harvard University main
tainS a weather observation station. an
84-mile wind was blowing and the mer-
curry was down to "a degrees below zero.
Ill Children Saved.
When fire developed in the Alexan-
dria home of Mr.. Parrish. three of his
six children. who we're i'll with mumps,
had to be carried from the building.
Mrs. Parrish and the other children
were home at the time. No one was
hurt.
Added to the high wind and near
zero weather. flremen we're forced to
lay 2700 feet of hose uphill to reach
the building. which was well in flames
by the time they arrived
The fire is believed TO have started
from sparks from one of the buildings
three chimneys. Only small amount
OF furniture on the first floor was saved.
One of the two outbuildings which
burned was tenant house. and the
other was used as a warehouse.
Six other alarms were answered by
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