OCR Text |
Show I ENTIRE BLOCK OF TEN BUILDINGS I DESTROYED; THOUSANDS SEE BLAZE H On Fireman Hurt and Three Over- 1 come ,by 8moke In Brave Fight H AfciVniY 'Conrlkflritton H Facte About Fire H The following Denver and Rio H Grande shops, offices and work rooms JH. were destroyed by flreTiesday ritghil: j Paint shop, Planing Mill, Car black- f smith shop, Doner and engine., rooms, B Pattern shop, Cab shop Uptrois'tering B shop, Wheel shop, Bteol car shed, Car H foreman's, offices. j In addition twenty-five boxcars be- H Ing repaired and six pas'sanger H coaches In the paint shop were des- H troyed. H Total loss between $500,000 and $' H 00,000, fully covered by Insurance. H Work of rebuilding plants will be- H gin at once; not any of 800 employees H bolng thrown out of work. H Origin of fire' spontaneous combus- H tlon In paint shop. Hj Firemen overcome by smoke and H fumes: H Frank Short,. H Eddie Andrews. H Benjamin Ktlpatrlck. H Joe Foster, D. and It. Q. Firemen, hand burned. H Injured by falling timber:. H Carl Odenwalder. H Most disastrous In Salt Lake's his- H tory was the fire 'that Tuesday night H destroyed the entire car repairing H plant of the Denver and Ttto Grande H railroad entailing a loss estimated at H between $500,000 and $600,000. H Flames fanned by a wind from the H southeast gained headway before the H arrival of the fire department and not H until the fire had swept the entire H block of ten repair shops, bordered by H Fourth South and Fifth South and Fifth West and Sixth West, was it H subdued. No lives wero lost. One fire-H fire-H man was hurt and threo wero over-H over-H come by smoke. H When acting fire chief James Paul .H dashed down West Temple street rV in the motor combination engine in W response to the alarm, which reach- gjj cd headqunrters at 7:33 o'clock,- ho Si could seo li sheet of flame shooting fH Into the air ahead. Upon arriving at H the fire ho raced to a telephone and H ordered n general alairm. Apparatus JB then poured to ttho sceno of tho big blaze from every corner of tho city. 8hop Were Doomed That aJl buildings within tho block wero doomed became apparent to Chief Paul. Sparks had set lire to the roof of tho coal elevator and chutes east of the big plant. To save this building dispatched Capt A. R. WUllkms and the men of Station No. v6; They climbed to tho dlizy holghts of the roof on slender ladders and commenced the battle with tho flames in midair, aided by two lines of water wa-ter uridcF high pressure. In half an hour they had the flames checked, preventing a spreading eastward. Just north of tho repair plant tho big railway roundhouse had commenced commenc-ed smoking. With two hoso lines and In a scorching atmosphere flremon waled its walls. From tho roof of tho roundhouse they opened n deluge which completely drenched the build-jlng. build-jlng. They left It steaming to turn their attention to tho main plant. Desperate efforts were made to save the boiler plant and engine room In the northeast .corner of tho block which had been converted Into a roaring roar-ing caldron. With virtually tho ontlro flre department depart-ment centering Its attention upon the main plant, D. J. Cunningham sup-erlntendet sup-erlntendet of shops of tho D. ft. It. G., discovered that flames reaching out toward the northwest were UcE-Ing UcE-Ing two big oil tanks. In tho Intense heat a smoko rose from the tanks, and there was danger of an explosion which would have swept tho yards of tho D. &. It. O., and possibly cost many lives. Cunningham told tho chief of tho impending danger. Chief Leads Way Calling Capt. Walter Knight and a crew of firemen, Acting Chief Paul led tho way to the oil tanks, opening valves to prevent the nccumulhtlon of exploalvo gases and deluged the big containers with water. It was said that with a little moro heat, the tanks In all holding 65,000 gallons of oil, would hnvo exploded. Tho daring of Acting Chief Paul Captain Knight and members of Knight's company was highly complimented last night by A. P. Apperson, general superintendent superin-tendent of tho Utah division of tho D. ft. U. O. Tho battle was continued con-tinued against the flames In that section sec-tion of tho block until danger of an explosion had passed. When attempting to gain a vantage point near tho heart of tho flro, from tho paint shop In tho southeast section sec-tion of tho block, three hosemen, Frank Short of station No. 2 nnd Ed-die Ed-die Androws and Benjamin Kllpatrlck of headquarters, encountered fumes which overcome them. All threo foil beside a lino of hose they wero hauling. haul-ing. Embers and burning JcBts wore falling about them when other firemen fire-men discovered their perdlcament. Limp nnd apparently lifeless, they wero dragged from tho flre. Water was thrown In their faces, their limbs wero exercised and presently they wero revived. They remained In a stupor several minutes. Finally they resumed their posts In tho battle with tho flames. Fireman Is Hurt Fireman Carl Odenwalder of headquarters head-quarters was guiding a lino of hose Into tho south sldo of tho burning plant when a group of roof timbers crumbled. He was caught beneath them and momentarily rendered unconscious. un-conscious. Fellow firemen dragged him from tho burning dobrls. On tho shoulders of. members of his company ho was carried to Sixth West and Fourth South, where Dr. Warren Benjamin, Ben-jamin, surgeon for the D. &. R. a. found a deep cut from which blood spurted, Immediately abovo Odenwald-er's Odenwald-er's knee. The wound was closed and Oldenwalder was sent to flro headquarters head-quarters In an ambulance. In addition addi-tion to the wound hbovo tho knee ho Is also suffering from many bruises about the body. When A. W. Copfer COG S. Twelfth West, clock fireman of tho car repairing re-pairing plant, had proceeded on his tour of Inspection as far as the paint shop in the southeast corner of the block shortly after 7 o'clock last night he smelled smoke. Hushing In among six passenger coaches which wero being be-ing painted ho discovered ono of the (Contlnuod on pago seven) ENTIRE BLOCK OF TEN BUILDINGS DESTROYED; THOUSANDS SEE BLAZE (Continued from page three) coaches, newly painted, waB burning. lie said last night that he ran from the paint shop and turned In an alarm which brought out George McDonald, Are chief of the D. &. R. G. shops and fifteen railway firemen. "I was covering my regular patrol of clocks through th plant," said Copfer, "when the smell of something burning reached my nostrils. In the paint shop I heard tho crackling of flre. Then I saw flames shoot from one of the coaches, newly painted. I knew It was beyond my power to stop the flre and I dashed buck through tho plant and turned In tho general yard alarm which brought out the firemen." "I estimate the loss at about $500,-000" $500,-000" said Superintendent Apperson. "I am glad that I was on the scene of tho fire, where I was gtven nn op portunity to seo Just what tho tire-men tire-men had to contend with. They are an ontclent, bravo and heroic lot of men. I wnnt to compliment Chief Paul fo' his cool handedness and tho nblo manner In which ho directed his men." Ono of tho most tictlvo of the officials offi-cials of tho D. &. It. G. was D. .1. Cunningham superintendent of shops. From the early stages of the lit c. he furnished firemen valuable Instruction Instruc-tion regarding the geography of the plant and dangerous spots to bo avoided avoid-ed and when he discovered tho pre dicament of the oil tanks ho assisted Chief Paul and firemen In preventing a disaster. J. J. Dennett, master mechanic of tho D. & It. G. throughout tho tire gavo his attention to tho engine and boiler departments on tho northcaBt corner of tho block. Upon his Instructions Instruc-tions firemen kept two lines of wnter playing on tho engines and boilers, One of tho engines Is a big AUIs-Chalmers, AUIs-Chalmers, which cost tho railway company $20,000, whllo nnother Is a Fairbanks of about tho same, value. Though tho Intrlcato mechanism of tho engines may have been ruined It Is known that the boilers were saved. sav-ed. They were under great heafdur-Ing heafdur-Ing tho most severe stages of tho firo. However, water eaas wero protected pro-tected and though safety valves sent great volumes of steam Into the air, the boilers are thought to havo stood the test. m |