GREAT CHICAGO BLAZE.

Star (Christchurch), Volume LXVI, Issue 20310, 21 May 1934, Page 1

GREAT CHICAGO BLAZE.

City Area, One Mile Square, Razed. CHICAGO, May 19, Starting late in th c afternoon fire swept the stockyards section of the city on the south side. It was five hours before officials announced that it was under control. The fire razed an area about a mile square and for a time it was feared that the flames would get out of control and spread to other sections of the city. The property damage is estimated at 8,000 000 dollars. It was the city’s greatest fire since the conflagration of 1871, which all but destroyed the city. One fireman was killed by a falling wall, and a dozen were injured, some seriously. Scores were overcome by smoke and heat. Every available man and piece of equipment was pressed into service, and water at the rate of 20,000,000 gallons an hour was poured on to the blaze, seriously curtailing services in other sections. It was an awful sight as a thousand dwellers and shopkeepers evacuated the area, carrying such belongings as they could. Clouds of acrid smoke beat over the down-town business section, and even into the exclusive North Side residential district. The flames were visible for 100 miles, according to the reports of aviators. A score or more of large buildings, including several meat-packing plants, were burned to the ground. To control the fire, it was necessary to d\ r namite many buildings. There is no-estimate of the number of animals that perished, but the total is probably high, as the fire started in a sheep pen, and immediately spread to other buildings housing stock waiting to be processed.