ALARM OF FIRE.

Thames Star, Volume VII, Issue 1902, 6 February 1875, Page 3

ALARM OF FIRE.

The Grahamstown. fire-bell rang out its sonorous note at five minutes to twelve this morning,-when all the town was alive with the busy crowds of men women and animals that throng the streets on tfatur«rtav. The consequences was a general hto the scene of the supposed conjration. Some three minutes before the alarm was given everybody in ana about Brown street noticed a most horrible and very thick smell of burning soot, and the cause was soon explained when the fire bell commenced. The cause of the alarm was a fire in the chimney of the Wharf Hotel, and scarcely, as it seeniedj had the bell sounded before the Firo Brigade were on the spot, many of thenl in uniform, with the new hose reel, recently imported. 3?his appliance is a great acqusition to the property of the Brigade; they have also anew joint-ladder which will prove efficacious in cases of fire, for purposescf •scape, etc. As the name implies this lad der is " made in lengths, which can be joined , together to attain the' required length, and is made of the best American hickory, so that it has the inestimable advantage of : combining lightness with strength. The Brigade are to be complimented upon the smartness with which they turned out j Many remarks were made by the crowd j who gathered in Albert street, upon the expedition which had been shown by this excellent body of men. We noticed that some of the Shortland fireman were present. The Shortland bell took up the alarm, and firemen belonging to the Shortland contingent promptly gathered at the shed. The services of the Brigade were not required, however. Before the bell gave notice of its existence, Mr Quint and others were busily engaged in efforts to put down the fire, by placing sacks in the chimney to smother it. This with the aid of a few buckets of water soon extinguished the fire, and, the excitement being over, the people dispersed. _"