Murphy Drug Store Fire
Waupaca Post
BASEMENT FIRE EXTINGUISHED
MONDAY NIGHT
DIFFICULTY EXPERIENCED IN
GETTING WATER AT FIRE IN CEILING OF BASEMENT
Soon
after nine-thirty o’clock Monday evening the fire alarm was sounded and the
company got their hose laid to fight a fire that started in rubbish and old
papers in the east end of the basement under the drug store of A.J. Murphy,
successor to Hocking Bros., in second door south of Fulton street and on the
west side of Main Street.
Quantities of smoke filled the basement and was almost too
dense to permit one to see the flames that were playing upon the pine timbers
and under side of the floor boards that support the room used for a drug store.
The
building stands low so the lower edge of the joist are almost level with the
sidewalk and the hose had to be aimed at a small window of the basement facing
Main Street. Thus the stream of water
was directed crosswise to the sleepers and it was impossible to get any great
portion of the water upon the fire. When the fire had broken through the floor and in the partition
between the drug store basement and the basement of
Smoke
caused some damage to the office fixtures of the bank and the furnace was put
out of commission when holes about the register were chopped through the floor
of the bank on the side next to the drug store.
The
damage to the bank is estimated at about $1,000. Temporary repairs were made so heat and light
were supplied to enable the
A
Near Tragedy
When
fireman Henry Rasmussen walked along the basement to extinguish a little blaze
under the floor carrying a pail of water in one hand and a lantern in the
other, he ran afoul of two live wires, one across the forehead and the other
under the chin. He was knocked senseless, and pitching forward, stood or leaned over these
wires that carried a current of 110 watts.
When
E.P. Barrington ran to the assistance of Rasmussen he received a shock that
floored the second fireman. The switch
in the front room of the bank was thrown out and the firemen were taken out.
Life
Was Saved
Eugene
Rasmussen, an employee of the local light company, had recently attended a
“Safety” meeting conducted by a specialist in the employ of the
Rasmussen
encountered some opposition from those determined to rush the patient to the
hospital. He found it necessary to call
upon the motor policeman, A. Hewitt, to permit him to do what he felt certain
must be done to save the fireman’s life.
Mr.
Ludden, local superintendent of the utility company,
stated that he believes that the fireman would have been past any aid had the
treatment been delayed until they reached the hospital. After respiration had been re-established the
fireman was taken to the hospital for further treatment. He was returned home the following afternoon.
There
were other narrow escapes. Firemen went
into the basement Tuesday where the night before they had worked in fighting
the fire and were horrified to discover that the sleepers that supported the
floor had been entirely burned out and the floor thus adding to the strain upon
there were tons of water upon the floor and adding to the strain upon the
weakened supports of the floor.
Theo Anderson and his efficient crew hurried the work of installing the partition to close the bank basement and doing all other things necessary to enable the bank to resume business Tuesday forenoon.