Evening star., 1936-05-04
LIGHTNING FIRES
.OLDPOST OFFICE
IN HEAVY STORM.
Sheath of Spire Ignited.
Firemen Subdue Blaze in
TWo-Hour Fight.
CROWD LINES AVENUE
TO WATCH BATTLE
Clock Undamaged by Flash.
Hose Line Burst 8 Times
by Pressure.

Al the nelShC OF storm winch
loosed torrent of tropical f1erceness
on the Capital at about pm. yeSter-
day, fire engines raced to the old Post
Ofiice Building al Pennsylvania Ave-
nue. and Eleventh street when light
ming struck the massive gray struc-
ture and set fire to the six-foot metal
sheath which caps the building.
After two-hour fight by firemen
under the greatest difficulties to con-
troll the flames, the outer part of the
cap had melted away and left today
n pudgy finger Of steel. This morning
three building inspectors chung like
flies to the slick top of the Postoffice
tower to survey the damage. They
found the giant clock to which Wash
1ngtonians have looked since 1897
, ticking on its way undisturbed.
The six-foot tip, however, was
turned into molten metal, glowing
red through the murk. by the almost
inaccessible fire, which set off an
automatic alarm through contact with
q steel beam.
Crowds Pack Avenue.
While smoke curled from the cupola
800 feet above the street, crowds
thronged Pennsylvania avenue to
watch the firemen's spectacular
efforts to get their hoses up the tall
gray stone tower.
While lightning ripped the black
sky, one squad of fire-fighters climbed
to the balcony on the tower, just
above the face of the famous clock.
dragged up from the street below
long line of hose made by piecing
together many smaller bits.
Then with the flames beginning 10
swirl from the base of the metal
tip, the firemen became steeple jacks
and climbed up within the tower to
the slanting slate roof. Axes in hand.
they began from there the precarious
creep, high above the hard pavement,
toward the fire.
Three times the hose line burs.
from the high pressure needed to
force water up the perpendicular
tower, but each time it was quickly
repaired. Two hours after the alarm
sounded the fire was out, with the
damage limited to the steel tip and
20 panes of glass broken in skylight.
Hot Spell Broken.
The rain broke the hot spell which
has held Washington in its languor-
GUS embrace for four days and sent
the temperature scuttling from 80
at 2 pm. down to 81 by pm. The
forecast for today was continued
cooler.
The fierce storm which beat at
Washington and the surrounding
countryside hurled bolts of lightning
also at the radio transmitter Of Sta
tion WRC atop the Riggs Bank Build
ing at Fourteenth street and Park road
and took the station off the air for %
minutes.
Station VOL, in the Annapolis
Hotel; a house in the 800 block of D
street southeast and the Parkview
School, on Warder street near Park
road, were likewise shaken by forks
of lightning.
The rain driven forward by the 40
mile wind sent inch-deep torrents
racing down Washington streets and
flooded sewers. Manholes were blown
into the air at Thirteenth street and
Florida avenue northeast and at
Twenty-second street and New York
avenue.
, Soon after the clouds upset their
buckets at pm, the Fire Depart
ment received 80 calls from the North
west section, most of them pleas for
help in bailing out flooded cellars.
Traffic Rerouted.
Water bubbling vigorously from
sewers on lower Fourteenth street
caused traffic bound for Highway
Bridge to be rerouted for an hour
over Memorial Bridge.
The unleashed wind slapped seven
small sailing craft to their sides as
they hoped the waves of Hams Point.
. No fatalities were recorded as a re-
suit Of the upsets.
Tobacco valued at about $4,000, the
barn In which it was stored, a stable
and machinery shed on the Wood
lawn estate of w. Beall Bowie, near
Largo, Prince Georges County, was
destroyed after q bolt Of lightning
fired the stable.
FLAMES spread quickly to the barn
and shed and flremen from Upper
Marlboro and ForeStville were unable
60 prevent the complete destruction
of the buildings. A new tractor and
binding machine and a number of
hogs were saved.