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Show I FLAHESGDTHOME I ON EAST SME H I Early Morning Fire Visits City art I Cmsimcs Reaitoce f I Erastus lalcy. I SECOND SERIOUS FIRE WITHIN WEEK Ttie Utter Ineffectiveness of Water Service Shows Necessity for Immediate Action. r ! ' An early morning fire which broke out about 8 o'clock Wed-"" Wed-"" nesday morning, completely gutted the beautiful little home I ' of Erastus Dalley on Fourth East street. ' Just at the hour when the stores were opening and every r one was getting ready for the 1 business of the day, the alarm of v fire was given and all who could do sb rushed to the seat of the fire to render whatever assistance assist-ance possible. The first persons to reach the fire found the flames just beginning begin-ning to burst from the northeast corner of the dining room, and if there had been sufficient water pressure at the time, even with the absence of any other fire-fighting fire-fighting apparatus, the fire could have been extinguished with ladders could be found of suffic ient length to reach the roof, consequently there was but little lit-tle for those present to do but turn their attention to the saving sav-ing of the contents of the house. This they succeeded in doing, every article of furniture being removed to a place of safety. After the flames had been burning for some thirty minutes, the water department succeeded in directing a large flow of irrigation irri-gation water down the street in front of the property, and from this hundreds of willing workers dashed water on the lower floor, preventing its destruction. Within an houraf ter the flames were first discovered, the roof had fallen in and the work of destruction virtually complete. I' The brick walls were but sightly damaged, the loss being confined I to the upper portion of the house, f so that it will be but a compara- tively short time untiftho home !can be repaired and ready for occupancy. Mr. Dalley was absent from I home at the time, being in Wash- j ington county on business. He r was immediately notified of the I loss that had befallen him and I started for home at once, reach- , ing the city Wednesday night I He had taken out a policy of l . $1,000 on his home on the 3rd of the present month, which will 1 no doubt prove a boon to him in 1 the present instance, as the en tire loss will devolve upon the insurance in-surance company The fire is presumed to have I originated as a result of defec-S defec-S i tive electrical wiring. Only re-; re-; I cently electricians were employed I I to repair the wiring and they re- l ported the wires in very bad J j condition, but were of the opin-I opin-I ioa that with the repairs made the ixiilding would be perfectly. secure from danger from that source. This fire, following closely upon up-on the one of last week, clearly demonstrates the urgent necessity neces-sity for better fire protection. The Record suggests that the city take steps to secure extension exten-sion fire ladders, a few hundred feet of fire hose, and a number of fire hydrants. There are two or three places in the city where if fire should break out while a stiff breeze were blowing, no power on earth could prevent the destruction of the entire block, under present conditions, because be-cause of the close proximity of the buildings. Would it not be tetter to raise the taxes than to risk the dangers from fire. |