. A history of the earthquake and fire in San Francisco; an account of the disaster of April 18, 1906 and its immediate results. ults might have been obtained i W^K Columns of Fuller Warehouse Waters A STUDY OF THE FIRE 227 which would have been effective in the saving ofmuch property. On the first day of the fire, during the burningof the wholesale district, much real damage wasdone by blowing up buildings adjacent to thosealready burning. It would seem that if the dyna-miting had been done at a distance from the fire(perhaps at the other end of the block) and back-fires started, th
. A history of the earthquake and fire in San Francisco; an account of the disaster of April 18, 1906 and its immediate results. ults might have been obtained i W^K Columns of Fuller Warehouse Waters A STUDY OF THE FIRE 227 which would have been effective in the saving ofmuch property. On the first day of the fire, during the burningof the wholesale district, much real damage wasdone by blowing up buildings adjacent to thosealready burning. It would seem that if the dyna-miting had been done at a distance from the fire(perhaps at the other end of the block) and back-fires started, the conflagration there—which burnedvery slowly among the substantial and more or lessfireproof buildings—might have been confined to acomparatively small area. Probably a natural hesi-tation about destroying valuable property whichmight otherwise be saved (emphasized by vehementprotests from the owners) was partly to blame;perhaps it would have been done without question,if the Chief had been there, while in the general dis-organization of the department no one may havebeen willing to take the responsibility. It must be. l-lioto by Waters Reinforced Concrete Girder in Monadnock Building 22S A STUDY OF THE FIRE noted, however, that any general scheme of blowingup a wide zone of buildings, and back-firing, wouldhave required more powder than was at hand atany one time. Here, too, perhaps, civic shortsight-edness is to blame; for an offer by the Federal Gov-ernment, to keep large quantities of high explosiveson its reservations, and available for the citys usein case of fire, had been neglected, and no advantagetaken of it. The value of back-firing was splendidlyillustrated on Thursday afternoon when the west-ward course of the flames was checked at Van Ness avenue. Unquestionably the assistance rendered by thesoldiers was of great value in preserving order andpreventing loss of life in the burning districts andin giving the firemen a chance to work in carrying o
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