Fire Destroys Four Wood Tenements; Master Streams Protect Exposures
Two persons lost their lives when fire destroyed four wood frame tenements and damaged a fifth tenement in Lewiston, Maine. The fire that left 52 persons homeless spread rapidly and made rescue and exposure protection the primary objectives of the first-alarm companies.
The fire apparently burned long enough before discovery in a three-story tenement at 38 Sabattus Street to cause partial collapse of the roof in the rear of the building as the first companies were responding. Investigators later reported that the fire originated on the second floor. It then entered the walls and spread laterally and vertically.
The alarm was phoned to the Lewiston Fire Department at 2:52 a.m. last July 27 and the dispatcher saw a red glow when he looked out a window after dispatching the apparatus. Responding on the first alarm were Engines 1,2 and 7, Snorkel 1 and Aerial 1.
Additional alarms
Engine 7, first on the scene, radioed for a second alarm at 2:54 a.m. The deputy chief called for a third alarm two minutes later. The initial commitment was to search and rescue. One woman was hanging from a third-floor window and a 35-foot extension ladder was raised to bring her down safely. She was taken to a hospital with third-degree burns.
By this time, the fire had spread to two adjacent buildings. Engine 7 moved up Oak Street to put its deluge set in operation as the second building became fully involved. The Lewiston Snorkel took up a position on Sabattus Street, as did Aerial 1. The primary effort was to prevent the involvement of exposures.
Lewiston Engine 1, a 1500-gpm pumper, laid a 3-inch line to supply Engine 7 from a hydrant at Sabattus and Horton Streets. The crew then went to Engine 7 and hand-stretched a 2 ½-inch line between the buildings on Oak Street to protect the exposures to the north of the main body of fire. Engine 2 laid two 3-inch supply lines to the Snorkel and pumped from a hydrant at Sabattus and Main Streets.
Responding on the second alarm, Engine 5 laid two 2 ½-inch lines from Engine 2 to the aerial and then laid two 2 ½-inch lines from Engine 1 to Sabattus and Oak Streets to supply its deluge set. Engine 6 laid a line from Blake and Oak Streets to supply Engine 5.
On the third alarm, Engines 1, 3 and 7 and a Snorkel responded from Auburn, across the Androscoggin River from Lewiston, and reported to the Oak Street side of the fire. They set up to assist Lewiston Engine 7 in protecting exposures with hand lines and deluge sets. Also responding on the third alarm were Lisbon Engines 1 and 4, the Lisbon Falls aerial, which Lewiston had given to Lisbon Falls, Lisbon Falls Engine 6 and New Gloucester Engine 3. The Lisbon Falls and New Gloucester engines carry 4-inch hose, which was laid from distant hydrants. This provided additional water at the scene and established a secondary line of defense.
At one time, the fire extended into the fifth tenement at 32 Sabattus Street as there was only an approximate 6 feet of space between it and the involved 106 Oak Street building. New Gloucester laid a 2 ½-inch line from Main Street to the back of the fifth apartment to a walkway. Lisbon set up a deluge set to cover the rear of the fifth building.
Stations covered
Filling in at Lewiston Central Station were Lewiston Engine 3, Auburn Engine 5, Wales Engine 1, Greene Engine 2 and Brunswick Aerial 1. There were no other fires in Lewiston. Mechanic Falls sent two engines to cover the Auburn Central Station.
Chief Reginald Doucette of Lewiston declared the fire under control at 4:06 a.m. The bodies of the two vict ims were found later in the day. One body was found on the first floor in the front of the building at Oak and Sabattus Streets. The other victim was found in a bathtub in the rear of the building on the Oak Street side. This victim was the owner of the building and reportedly had escaped from the building only to reenter it.
Doucette estimated that an average of 9000 gpm of water was put on the fire for 1 ½ hours.
