Texas Fire News
Lightning ignited a 37,000-barrel tank of oil of the Texas Company at Port Arthur, Texas, on August 24, but the fire was extinguished by the use of the Firefoam system, with a loss of only about 1,500 barrels of oil.
An unusual accident occurred in the railroad yards in Cleburne, Tex., when the city fire department was called to the Trinity & Brazos Valley yards to extinguish a passenger engine which was enveloped in flames originating from a pool of oil between the rails. The engine was badly damaged.
The fire which was recorded in the last issue at Breckenridge, Texas, in the Walker-Jones Building, with a loss of $110 000, brings the fire losses of that town up to nearly two million dollars since December 4, 1920. This rather poor record will materially increase the total losses of Texas for 1921.
Fire Marshal Tom Cottar of Fort Worth, Tex., is demanding that property owners comply with the law with regard to fire escapes, he has announced. The law has been neglected partially during the last three years, owing to war conditions, Mr. Cottar said, but it has been decided that now is the time to have fire escapes installed. About 30 per cent, of the total to be installed have been put in during the past thirty days, he said.
Failure of a fire plug to operate while men from the Central Fire Station were fighting a fire at 2222 Caroline Street, Dallas, resulted in Captain J. M. Roe of the central station suffering severe burns on his left shoulder. Captain Roe was operating a fire hose and had advanced close to the residence when the water supply failed and the heat became so intense as to blister him through his clothing. His burns were dressed at the Emergency Hospital.
