THE PARK AVENUE HOTEL FIRE.

THE PARK AVENUE HOTEL FIRE.

周六早上很早，最后一次火灾爆发了七十一军团，在公园大道和第三十四街，曼哈顿，纽约州，在一个令人难以置信的短暂的时间内，显然坚不可摧的建筑不得不屈服于敌人。一些粗心的吸烟者在公司的一家房间，通过扔掉雪茄的屁股或香烟的短管，引起了燃烧，这不仅摧毁了军械库本身，而且蔓延到毗邻的公园大道，并带来了从十九岁的生活中取出和严重伤害了大量的客人。军械库本身只是一个火影素。到目前为止，它的钻井楼面，它是如此强烈建造和强烈的结构，以便能够承受从游行部队的振动，以及大部分屋顶的重量和大部分花岗岩和砖砌土的影响它在火灾期间。但所有上面那个地板只是一块关于由非防火木材构造的冰雹的石头框架，从而为火焰传播提供了各种可能的设施。在处理BLI〜e时，该部门非常残障。警报（仍然存在）在最近的车站没有到达营队长，直到火焰变得伟大的入口，并通过窗户爆发。 They were first discovered by a woman, not by the Dolice. The shockingly bad condition of the streets, caused some of the pieces necessitating taking the teams from one piece to help haul up another—the water tower, for instance. One report also says that some of the hydrants were frozen; certainly the severity of the weather numbed the hands of the firemen, while the rapid transit excavation caused delay, as did likewise the high wind, the sleet, and the constant explosion of small arms ammunition round the men as they worked. The outcome was the total gutting of the armory from above the drill floor, probably necessitating its entire reconstruction, and causing a loss to State, city, and regiment of halt a million of dollars.

Meanwhile, as the fire raged there, burning embers (many as large as a man's head) and sparks were sucked down (as seems most probable) by the air-current into the elevator shaft of the Park Avenue hotel, which was crowded with guests. These sparks made their wav to the oiled rags and waste, which are so often suffered to accumulate out of sight of the management of the hotel, and set light to them. The flames then followed in the wake of the elevator car, firing the old pine lining of the shaft, the woodwork of which had been exposed to the saturating action of oil, till they met those already at work on the upper floors, two or three of which were completely burned out. As the stairways ran parallel with the elevator—a method of construction which altogether belied the pretensions of the hotel o rank as a fireproof building—the flames burst hrough its sides, as well as upwards, and completely cut off all possibility of escape from those who hoped to reach the street by their means. The flames had crept up stealthily and unwatched; all the help was outside with the watchmen gazing at the armory fire, or on the roof warding off and putting out the sparks. Their presence was apparently first noticed by Battalion Chief Ross, who was in the hotel taking measures for its protection. When the alarm was given, it was not heeded, so confident were all in the fireproofness of the building that none believed it possible any danger could arise to the inmates. When the truth was discovered, the fire alarm system was inadequate; the watchmen and others were not on hand to give warning or to guide the guests downstairs by the rear stairways; there were no red lights to show the wav to these exits; and the few lights there were could not be seen for the smoke. The vaunted fireproofing was a snare and a delusion, and in any case the rooms abounded in non-fireproofed wood and other inflammable materials. Yet, con trary to all commonsense, if not to law (for the building as not being over nine stories did not come under the new ordinance as to being fireproof and. it is claimed, as to being provided with fire escapes), there were no fire escapes outside to mar the aesthetic effect, nor even ropes in the bedrooms to facilitate a descent to the ground. Hence many jumped out of the windows, to their death and grievous hurt. The fire department outside unavoidably lost time in getting to work, as they were obliged to move their apparatus in allthe slush and amid all the hurry (during which the fall of the armory wall destroyed a quantity of hose), to drag what remained of the hose into the hotel and up several flights of stairs, in the hope of connecting with the house hose, only to find that there was not a foot of hose in the place, not even a decent fire extinguisher.