Evening Republican, Volume 23, Number 186, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 3 August 1920 — CIGARETTE BUTT BELIEVED TO HAVE BEEN FIRE ORGIN [ARTICLE]

CIGARETTE BUTT BELIEVED TO HAVE BEEN FIRE ORGIN

A lighted cigarette butt is believed by Fire Chief Montgomery to have been the cause of the conflagration which occurred shortly after noon Monday and which for a time threatened to do widespread destruction. The fire was of a more serious nature than many supposed. Several adjacent buildings were badly singed by the flames and at one time the firemen were fighting flames on several different buildings. The flames were so located in many instances that it was with difficulty that the firemen reached them. The fire was first discovered by Mrs. Chester Zea, wife of the city teamster, who lives, in the rooms over the fire house. The fire started in a small shed which was built against the side of the hose tower. Chief Montgomery states that some of the hose in the tower was

saved, but that about six hundred feet was burned. The loss is covered by insurance. The fire house is owned by. the city and is little more than a fire trap, as are several of the small buildings near it. The sooner all are torn down and replaced by new ones the better off the city will be. As they now stand they endanger thousands of dollars worth of property adjacent to them, and it is only fair to owners of property in the vicinity that they be protected against fire loss by the eradication of these fire traps. It is understood that one or two of the city councilmen have already expressed themselves as being in favor of building a new fire house at once, and many of our citizens have voiced the same sentiment. It is to be hoped that this sentiment is not an impulse of the moment.