£4,000,000 FIRE.

Mount Ida Chronicle, Volume XL, Issue XL, 1 March 1912, Page 1

£4,000,000 FIRE.

ENGINES FROZEN TO STREETS IN NEW YORK.

(London Express New York Correspodnent.) . The most serious fire the financial district of New York has ever known destroyed the Equitable Life Assurance bocioty's building between 5.30 'a.m. and 9.30 a.m. to-day. Seven lives known to be lost, and tne financial loss on the building is almost £4,000,000, which is not covered by insurance, the Equitable believing that the building, which was a marble palace famous-throughout America, was fireproof. It will not be known for several days what part has been lost of the tenants' securities,: valued at £60,000,000, and stored in the great safe over the entrance of the building but it is hoped that they are unharmed

In all, it . is estimated that £100,000,000 worth of securities and cash aie buried in the ruins, which are heavily guarded against thieves. Air the company's record cards; and l . ts ~™ ™~ ura V ce , P oli cies, j numbering i,000,000. which were keptlin thin steel ealmiels. were destroyed,Hhough fortunately duplicate sets have been kept m. another office building. The work of copying another duplicate set -will take five years

The Equitable building stood in Broadway, one block north of -"Wailstreet, with the Chase National, Fourth National, Hanover National, and American Exchange National Banks " and the Equitable Mercantile'and 'Columbia, Trust Companies, immediately facino- it on different sides. Nothing could° be done in the way of banking business by these institutions until long after 10 a.m. Customers were then admitted •through back entrances, but little business was done.

I he fire was the most difficult the New York Fire Department has ever handled. The vaunted high pressure water system, which was adopted recently to replace the fire engines, failed utterly to live up to its reputation. A high wind was blowing, and the temperature was below freezing point. The streams of water broke into ■showers of spray, and were scattered uselessly. - The water froze as it touched the Equitable and the surrounding buildings which soon were covered by a thick sheet of ice with long icicles hanging tnta. Svery projection, tfroaxjway

became a miniature canyon, through ..which water and cakes of ice rushed ankle deep.; Over all towered a vast column of dingy yellow smoke, shot with blazing sparks, which fell on roofs throughout an area of a mile or more around the burning building; It was a little after..s";a,m..:w.hen a watchman discovered the fire in the storeroom ~of- the .Cafe ,a famoiis,,restaurant. used by. Wall-street ' magnates'for many years, which .occupied part of the. Equitable .building. The alarm, which was .rung immedi- ' ately,; brought Chief Kenlbn,-the head of the Fire Department, who; directed the fight from the start. He realised i.at; : pnceV the great danger of .such a fire in the heart of .American's financial, centre,_ withi a' gale.to fan the flamesj haying a clean sweep through the' open space ; : of the famous Trinity Church graveyard diagonally across Broadway. Chief Kerilon rang five.'. alarms in quick succession, and then summoned the brigade from 'Brooklyn. . This is the first time that fire.engines have "crossed the Brooklyn Bridge for work in Manhattan Island. There, .. were..„_ soon twenty-two engines, six fire escapes, two water towers, .and; \3OO men at .work on :the Equitable building, which was specially examined a few, weeks ago by a of the Equitable Society, and pronounced fireproof, and therefore, not-needing insurance. So far from being fireproof,"the building hurried like a.tinderbox. It is. eight storeys high, built, in the old-fashioned style, with brown stone walls three feet thick , v > while, inside it; contained much wpod work, and the halls were finished •in marble. , V /

The i fire engines had great' difficulty in reaching the building because of the ice-coated streets." It had, rained. early last night, and the rain was followed, by a drop in the ; temperature, which, made the roadways like, a skating lake, on which the horses could only move slowly, The fire had a start of half an hour before the firemen got to work in earnest.

The, engines froze fast to the streets while working at the hydrahts, : and had. to be chopped loose before /they could go home when the blaze was at last under; control. , .-'.X':/..'

The- firemen themselves were coated with ice, which seriously hampered their movements, ■.'.•■:..!''

The, firemen gained the.roof by means of the : ordinary lifts, and three of them were cut off .by the'fire below. The trapped men gathered at the side of the' building, towards Cedar" street, which is a narrow - thoroughfare, and shouted for help. The fire ladders fell short by three storeys, while the scaling ladders could not be used because there were no coping stones on the old styltj broad windows, which offered little surface for them to grip. The; only part of the building that escapediadsstruction,was,the. magnificent suite of rooms Mr August' Belmont, the . American representative of the Rothschilds, They were iihin-: jured except by water. The firemen had hardly" got the fire under control whenjthe people employed in the building, numbering 2000j began tq arrive. All the police reserves were called' out <tp maintain order, and the : Equitable officials immediately opened temporary offices in .'a' neighboring building and put the clerks to work. It was fortunate that the fire did not occur during working: hours, as then there would probably have been 'great loss of life.

The building now appears like a miniature frozen Niagara. The front is coated over solidly with ice, and fringes of ice hang from the windows. Several fire ladders are frozen to the walls, and an immense safe., dragged from the building stands on "the pavement completely encased in ice. Gas is escaping throughout the building, are now going through the structure and lighting all the gas leaks.: An expert who has examined the exterior of the safe deposit vaults declares that it:is practically certain that the contents are uninjured. The fire' destroyed the Lawyers Chib library of 50,000 volumes, ' 'including many rare volumes on insurance, law, and decisions. It was reported at first that the autobiographical, papers of the late Mr E. H. Harririian, containing historic references to his relations with politicians and financiers, had. been stroyed, but this was denied later, though _ many documents and records concerning the Harriman railway system are lost. " ,

The Equitable building, which was New York's last great office structure before the new style steel frame skyscrapers began to be erected, will be replaced at once by a modern skyscraper.

VALUABLE GROUND. Judge Day, president of the company, issued a statement that the building had not been carried .for a long time as an asset, as the ground on which *t stood is worth more without it. The fire caused an unprecedented business tangle in the financial district. Several banks, in the immediate neighborhood of the fire could not he.opened, an a two>to three million pounds' worth or. Stock Exchange securities were in the vaults of the burned building. This made it necessary for the Stock Exchange to take the unprecedented step of suspending for the day the rule that stocks shall be delivered before 2.45 p.m. on the afternoon following the day of sale.

Banking and stock market business was paralysed for several hours after opening, because many financiers were unable to reach their offices, which were in the fire zone.