Evening star., 1944-10-21
|47 Known Dead,
Missing in
Cleveland Fire
| $500 Homeless
| In Eost Side Area
Half Mile Squore
Pictures on Page Al. J
By the Associated Press.

By the Associated Press.
CLEVELAND, Oct. 21.-The
death toll climbed hourly today
in the worst conflagration in
Cleveland's history, an explo-
sion-punctuated blaze that COM
pletely devastated an East Side
are a one-half mile square.
The list of known dead mounted
to Al as scores of emergency crews
searched the gaunt remnants of
hundreds of homes for victims
trapped after a series of blasts de-
stroyed the East Ohio Gas Co.'S
Sc, 900 900 liquid gas storage plant
at the foot of East Sixty-second
street. The latest official figure on
missing persons was los.
Chairman Stanley Orr of the
Cleveland Red Cross unit, in mes
sage to Washington Red Cross
headquarters, expressed the fear
that fatalities might reach 200. Cor
oner S. r. Gerber said it was ''vir-
tually impossible" to estimate the
number Of persons not accounted
| for.
Fire Still Flares.
Witnesses said the fire still fared
| in isolated spots over a 50-block
district at IL am. Central war
time but was under control.
An estimated $500 persons were
made homeless by flames cascading
on the heels OF blasts which sent
tongues of fire to height of 1900
feet. Possibly 10000 others were
evacuated from yet undamaged
homes because of utilities disruption
and the danger of further blasts.
Adjt Gen Donald F. Pancoast Of
Ohio ordered 500 Cleveland State
Guards and naval militiamen mo-
bilized to patrol the burned area and
protect property from looters.
Cause Undetermined.
The first blast at $50 pm. (cen-
/ trail war time yesterday was be-
! lieved to have occurred in one Of
three spherical liquid gas storage
tanks, part of East Ohio Gas Co.
property at East Sixty-first street
and the New York Central railroad
tracks. The plant was built to store
gas for peak period use and was the
first of its kind in the Nation.
Spokesmen for the East Ohio Co.
said they were completely at a
loss" as to the probable cause, as
serting an earlier theory that a
blast in an American Gas ASsocia-
tion testing laboratory preceded the
major explosions had proved false.
One executive said reports were re-
ceived of fire of unknown origin
in the yard of the liquefying plant.
Director r. M. Conner of the lab
oratory reported, our men saw the
explosion and, therefore, our plant
could not have started the blast. y
500 Homes in Area.
The blaze virtually raced amid
frame dwellings, several blocks from
the East Ohio property, before fire.
men were able to Law lines and bring
streams of water into play.
The fire area roughly is bounded
by East Fifty-flfth street on the
west, East Sixty-fourth street on the
east, st. Clair avenue on the south
and Lake Shore boulevard beside
Lake Erie on the north.
The number of homes within the
area from which residents were
evacuated was estimated at 800, with
sprinkling of small business places
7 Firemen were thwarted in initial
efforts to reach the seat of the blaze
by intense heat and concentrated
, hose lines on flaming homes.
The Coast Guard alone assigned
$50 of its members to the district
as precautions were taken against
looting.
Refugee Centers Set Up.
! The three gas tanks were the cen
ter of the vast explosion that shot
: balls of fire high into the air. Man.
hole covers and debris hurtled to
the height of four-story buildings
q when nearby gas mains added their
explosions to the inferno.
More than so private and service
ambulances sped between the dis
aster scene and Cleveland hospitals
r which had been placed on an emer,
|, gency basis. Red Cross refugee
centers were set up in nearby
t schools, the Army supplied cots anc
r tSee CLEVELAND FIRE, Pg. A-3.)