Evening star., 1939-07-25
7 Hurt Fighting
Westchester
Apartment Fire
Newmyer Residence on
Seventh Floor Center
Of $4,000 BIoze

The SEVENTH floor apartment of
Alvin L. Newmyer, Washington at
torney, in the Westchester Apart
ments at 1000 Cathedral avenue
NV, was swept last night by fire
of undetermined origin that caused
an estimated $4,000 damage and
injuries to two flremen.
Seven engines and two truck COM
panies answered two alarms for
the fire, while more than 1000 spec
tators stood outside the building to
watch smoke billow from the win
dows.
No member of the Newmyer fam
lily was in the apartment when
smoke was first discovered coming
from back bedroom window, by
the family of Dunbar A. Rosenthal
in the eighth-floor apartment above.
Thousands of dollars worth of an
tlque furniture was destroyed.
Firemen were handicapped by the
apartments location and had to
raise their hose lines to the seventh
floor and then lay them down the
hall to the Newmyer apartment.
The heat was so intense they found
difficulty in reaching the fire in the
back Of the apartment. They WELD
ed their picks to break through the
living room wall and turn a hose
into the bedroom, where the fire ap-
parently had started.
Fireman's Feet Scalded.
One of the injured firemen was
George c. Bowie, 80, of 50O5 North
Fifteenth street, Arlington, Va,
from No. II truck company, who
suffered scalded feet. The water
from the hose coming in contact
with the fire heated it to a boiling
point and it flowed into the top of
the firemen's boots. The other was
Walter Crack, 46, of 83l North Lin
coin street, Arlington, who was over
come by exertion and fatigue and
suffered slight heart attack
Mr.. Bowie was treated at Emer-
gency Hospital and then allowed to
go home. Mr. Crack. who also was
taken to the hospital, remained
there today for further treatment
and rest.
The heat was so intense in there
that you couldn't breathe Mr..
Crack said this morning. The
main trouble was that We had to
lay so much hose before we could
begin to fight the fire
Newmyer Rushes Homo.
Mr.. Newmyer, who was away
from home when the fire broke out
at 10 pm, rushed to the West
chester when he heard the news
from friends Smoke was filling the
corridors of the seventh floor.
The entire contents of the corner
bedroom in the rear of Building B
were destroyed. including several
valuable antique pieces of furniture,
Mr.. Newmyer said.
The attorney had on his only suit
of clothing. "All my clothes and
those of Mrs. Newmyer were de-
stroyed,' he continued as he pointed
to two clothes closets.
The room was utterly bare, the
furniture and clothing, most of it on
fire. having been thrown out the
window by firemen after they gained
entrance to the bedroom. Only the
flreproof structure OF the building
prevented the fire from spreading.
An adjacent bathroom also was
destroyed by the blaze. Damage
extended to the bathroom of Ar
mand Newmyer, 18-year-old son of
the attorney, honor student and star
athlete at Sidwell Friends School.
Valuable furniture in the living and
dining rooms were damaged by
smoke and water.
Valuable Mirror Destroyed.
Mr.. Newmyer said one of the
pieces of furniture destroyed in the
bedroom was a mirror from the
Allison Naylor home There was
not thing here when came in.
he declared. II have no idea how
1t started"
Mrs. Newmyer was out of the city
at the time of the firse, but she
returned to Washington this morn
ing to survey the damage.
Two elevator operators in the
building, Peter Freeman, %, and
William Parker, 19, turned fire ex-
tinguishers on the flames before
firemen arrived, but were unable to
put out the blaze.
Scores of prominent Washingto-
mans live in the same building One
of them, Maj. Gen. Albert Blanding,
chief of the National Coast Guard