FIREMEN'S SPLENDID HEROISM.

Hawera & Normanby Star, Volume LXI, Issue LXI, 28 January 1911, Page 3

FIREMEN'S SPLENDID HEROISM.

HUNDRED GIRLS RESCUED

FROM THE TOP OF A BLAZING FACTORY.

SCENES OF FRANTIC EXCITEMENT.

NEW YORK, Jan. 20. The magnificent heroism of the firemen at Atlanta City, Georgia, was yesterday the means of saving the lives of a hundred girls who had been cut off from escape from a blazing factory. The fire had secured a strong hold on the lower portion of the building, which was used as a shirt waist factory, when the brigade arrived. The employees, nearly all girls, had. made their way to the third storey, which was as far away from the fire as they could get. It seemed certain that the whole of them must perish, and their desperate predicament, as the vast volumes of smoke and flame rolled higher and higher, made the e;reat crowd of helpless spectators almost frantic. The unfortunate girls themselves gave vent to the most heartbreaking cries for help. But for a time it appeared as though none would be forthcoming. The firemen, working with desperate energy, rigged their life-saving gear and hose. . Some of them dashed through the fire in the lower part ot\ the building. Others ascended by the ladders to the floor on which the screaming employees were gathered. Sometimes a fireman would be caught by a big volume of smoke and sparks, and collapse. But instantly another man would take his place. One by one the girls were lifted through the windows and carried down the escapes. Most of them were helpless from the intensity of their terror. As the fire progressed the rescue work became more and more dangerous, but the firemen persevered, with a heroism that kept the huge concourse of spectators cheering hysterically the whole time.

Eventually the last girl was passed out of the blazing building and carried down. The fire-fighters had won one of the fiercest battles with the flames that has yet been waged in America. But twenty of their number were hors de combat. They had been overcome by the smoke and fumes.