THRILLING SCENE AT A FIRE.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XX, Issue 6823, 29 September 1883, Page 2 (Supplement)

THRILLING SCENE AT A FIRE.

Ik an account of a recent fire in New York the follewing exciting incident is narrated by the reporter "of the leading journal:—At half-past one the fire wa3 mostly in the fifth, sixth, seventh aud eighth floors on the Yande-. watrr-atreet side, and had aot yet extended through to Kose-street. It wag thought?it would do so, however, and to check the advance of the flames Chief Gicquel seat fourteen members of Engine Compiny No, 7 and Hook and Ladder No. 1 Company upstairs ■with aline of hose and their -axe*. The men were only able to get to the fifth floor. Here whaVia called a " back draft" suddenly filled the room they were in with smoke, It came so fast and in such volumes that toe firemen to save their lives threw themselves flas on the floor. Some distance ? 7ay, overlooking j a courtyard, were two windows. Toward I these windows the suffocating firemen crawled.. ' They were ens off from the stairs and from the only fire escape in the building by the smoke. Their only hope lay in getting aid from the outside through the windows. They shouted for help, but the men below, busy with the fire, did not hear them. Suddenly two of the imprisoned men, Tuite and O'Brien, of the engine company,,fainted and were apparently in a dying condition. Tndr companions gesticulated out of the win Jows and uttered frantic cries. The racket made by the puffing engines drowned their cries, and the word was passed one to another to jump—into certain death, it seemed—when someone below looked up. With renewed hope the twelve imperilled men. repeated their cries for help, but to their horror their request was misunderstood. It was thought Miey wanted another line of hose, and no haste was being made to get it to them when Chief Giequel's attention was called to the spot by seeing the men below getting the hose ready. He shouted up, "What is wanted?" "We are cut off. j Huny up or we must jump," came back the ! answer. "It's a life line they wane," j shpntel Chief Giequel to those about him, who for some reason had not been able to bear .the thrilling reply to his question. All was excitement at once. A forty-five foot extension ladder was quickly broatht and placed iu position. It was too short by twenty ftet. Out on the window tills were tvre of the perishing firemen rea<iy to throw themselves down. ' Chief Gicquel motioned to them to go back, and they obeyed. Hβ then by signs found that they had a piece of string, which, however, would uot reach the top or the ladder, This he directed them to lower. Then two firemen went up the ladder and with difficulty tied the end of the string to a small rope, by whioh a. larger one was iniuiedi'.tely drawn up. No time was lost in miking it fast above. Aneiatant Foreman Heeney, of the truck company, started to come down first, as he was very faint aud most exhausted of all. He began lowering himself hand under hand, when his strength gave out and he slipped fully sixty feet, tearing thii skin from both his hands. For-, tunately a fireman caught him when he struck the ground and prevented more serious injury. An. employe , in the building was the next one down, and then came Tuite, O'Brien, Borland, O'Shaughnessy, ' Sloan, Pilger, Donovan and Kent, of Eagine No. 7, and. McClain, lireeu, McClain and McCarty, of the truck company. As tha last man left the wiudow sill flames burst from it but over the courtyard. The exciting scene was witnessed by a Rpellbound throng that cheered loudly at its successful completion. .... • ■~,.'