BIG CHICAGO FIRE

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXXI, Issue 21805, 21 May 1934, Page 9

BIG CHICAGO FIRE

ENOKMOUS DAMAGE STOCK YARDS OUTBREAK SPREAD OF THE FLAMES '{'=• MANY BUILDINGS RAZED By Telegraph—Press Association—Copyright (Received May 20, 6.35 p.m.) CHICAGO. May If) A fire which broke out late this afternoon swept the stock yards and a section of the South Side of Chicago for five hours before the .fire brigades had; it under control. The flames razed an area of about one mile square. For a. time it was feared'they were out of control and would spread to other sections. The damage is 'estimated at 8,000,000-; dollars, making the fire the greatest experienced in Chicago since the conflagration of 1871, which all but destroyed the old city.

One fireman was killed by a falling T wall and 12 others were injured, some of them seriously. Scores were overcome by smoke and heat, Every man and every piece of equipment available was pressed intb service. Water was used at a rate of 20,000,000 gallons an hour, seriously curtailing the service to other sections. It was an awe-inspiring sight as thousands of housedwellers and shopkeepers evacuated the area carrying such be—longings as they could. Clouds of acrid smoke spread to the business section of the city and even into the exclusive ' residential district on the North Side. The flames were, visible for 100 miles, according to airmen. A score or more large' buildings, including several meat - packing plants, were burned to the ground. In order to control the fire it was necessary to blow up many buildings with dynamite. There is no estimate of the number of animals that perished in the stock yards, but probably it was high, as the fire started in a sheep pen and immediately spread to other buildings housing stock waiting to be slaughtered.