Fire In Blue Island

Two and a Half Blocks of Valuable Buildings Destroyed.

Loss Over $200,000

Mayor Zacharias Summons Aid From Chicago.

Three Companies of Chief Swenie’s Brigade Assist the Local Fire Fighters.

Two and a half blocks of business and residence property, in the heart of Blue Island, on both sides of Western Avenue, from Grove to Vermont Street, and in Grove Street, nearly a block west of Western Avenue, were swept out of existence by a fire at 2 o’clock yesterday morning.

Aid Summoned from Chicago.

That the town was not entirely obliterated was due to the efforts of Chief Kenyon of the Twelfth Battalion and the members of Engine companies Nos. 51, 61, and 75, captained respectively by McKerman, Tobin, and Miller, sent to the scene by Marshal Swenie in response to the appeal of Mayor Zacharias of Blue Island.

That official, seeing that the resistance offered the flames by the volunteer department was ineffective, and knowing that at the crucial moment the engines supplying the town with water had weakened, if not broken down entirely, called on Chief Swenie for assistance.

The latter sent Chief Kenyon, with three companies, on a special train for the scene of the fire, fourteen miles away. And the fire fighters from Chicago came not a moment too soon. The volunteer department, all good men, but unused to such scenes, and unable to cope with a fire of such magnitude, was dazed. The men were giving up the unequal battle when the Chicago department reached the scene. Then the tide turned.

The origin of the fire is not known. By some it was supposed to be the work of tramps sleeping in the barn in the rear of the Union House. Others as strongly claim it was the work of an incendiary.

Blaze Spread Rapidly.

The fire was first seen by Peter Heim, janitor of the Concordia Hall. It was slowly making its way through the barn connected with the Union House, and did not look then to be the vigorous flame that shot up a moment later. Running to the street. Heim called the attention of Officer Henicke to the blaze, and the latter pulled box No. 34, at the corner of Western Avenue and Grove Street. It was then 1:45 o’clock, and the dancers in the Singer Hall close by were enjoying themselves heartily.

The operator in the central fire alarm station sent in a general alarm.

The Blue Island department is a volunteer one, and consists of a chemical engine and a cart and hook and ladder, the marshal being William Schreiber and the captains E.H. Pohlsen and E. Mence

The fire had not yet reached the top of the adjacent buildings and the wind rolled over it in gusts. The department got to work valiantly, but the men were compelled to work with half a supply of water. Nearly two hours they tried to make the pumps work and it was a fatal wait, and destroyed all chances of stopping the progress of the fire in its incipiency.

The blaze soon burst from its narrow bounds and commenced to eat its way to Grove Street on the north. The wind catching it whipped the flames about and drove the burning cinders over the houses to the next street. It communicated to several sheds in the rear of Concordia Hall, and mounting the frame building, fanned by the increasing wind, began to make a glare that astonished the people, and which was easily seen in Chicago.

Concordia Hall was soon at the mercy of the flames and the short-handed department began throwing the water on the fire in the direction it was going. This had the effect of raising a cloud of cinders that went soaring and soon fell on houses in Western Avenue, where they soon took fire.

But the big body of the fire did not change. It swept out Concordia Hall and then went west to Henry Street. It caught up the home of John Schroeder, where the latter conducted a jewelry store. Schroeder had been watching the fire from its start and at once began preparing for it, and when the blaze reached out he had the start, and had moved nearly all of his things to a place of safety.

Singing Hall Is Destroyed.

Next door to the latter place was the home of the Blue Island Singing Society. As usual on Saturday night, the members were present. A concert had been held in the big hall early in the evening, and after the singing the many present from Chicago, Joliet, and other places prepared to have a dance. They were indulging in a waltz when a man entered the place and told the floor manager that fire was raging outside and that for the safety of all concerned they should vacate. But the good-natured man was laughed at so strongly he retired in confusion. The dancers refused to believe the fire was in Blue Island at all, and continued.

Their fun was somewhat rudely spoiled at last when a uniformed officer walked into the hall and warned them of the danger that menaced not only the hall but the town. Then there was a hurrying to and fro in a moment the hall was empty.

The two-story building was soon a prey to the flames. The wind quickly swept the flames to the sides and then to the top until the mass of fire was visible in Englewood.

The fire had now beaten the local department and by this time Mayor Zacharias, who had been awakened from a sound sleep, reached the scene. After a short conference with the village officials he called up Marshal Swenie and asked for aid. In a moment the latter had communicated the call to Chief Kenyon and ordered the latter to take three engines and hurry to the scene.

Firemen Take a Special Train.

A special train of two cars and an engine pulled up at 3 o’clock at Sixty-Second Street and the Rock island tracks, and at 3:30 three engines were loaded on the cars and the reinforcement was soon speeding south at the rate of fifty miles an hour. It took twenty minutes to reach the scene, and then another vexatious delay took place.

The village officials had made no arrangements or preparation to receive the visitors. The latter on arriving at Blue Island proceeded to unload their heavy engines from the cars without any assistance. Then, when unloaded, another obstacle was encountered. The officials had as yet failed to send horses to draw the three engines up a steep hill to the scene of the fire. Over half an hour was lost. Mayor Zacharias was finally found, and horses were sent to the place, and the heavy engines soon made their appearance.

The fire by this time had taken possession of the town at the south end in the populous and business part, and was slowly eating its way through the heart of the city. The firemen, utterly unable to cope with the blaze, which seemed to come from every place at once, were dazed. The water was enough to satisfy a thirsty man, but for the purpose needed at that particular time, it was worse than inadequate. To add to the general discomfort, the pumps refused to work to their fullest capacity and nothing but annihilation seemed to stare the people in the face.

After destroying the Singer building the flames reached across the street and began to eat up the building on the north side. The roar of the flames could be heard for a mile. The strong wind lifted huge branches of burning boards into the air, and carried them away to the north, to drop them on some house. Nearly all of the village was awakened by this time, and every man, woman, and child constituted himself or herself a fireman, and labored to prevent the fire from spreading north, or in any other direction. But their efforts were without avail.

Arrival of the Chicago Brigade.

It was at this time that the special train with Chief Kenyon and his men and engines reached the place. A long time, nearly a decade, the people said, elapsed before the engines were drawn to the top of the hill, and then the people saw work in earnest.

At the southeast corner of Grove Street and Western Avenue is the Calumet National Bank, and anxious citizens who had money in that institution decided that building must be saved. The blaze was across the street and pointing out their mental trouble to Marshal Kenyon they asked him to save the bank at all hazards.

Engine 51 from Englewood was placed at that corner and engine 75 at the corner of Vermont Street and Western Avenue in the midst of the approaching fire. Engine Company 11 was sent down to the Calumet River and, throwing a lead of hose into the pond, there pumped up the fire almost a half-mile away.

With the service the local department was giving the water tank from which the town gets its supply of water had a chance to fill up. The pumps failed to work properly and the water dropped into the big tank. Then the department could not get force enough to drive it to the first story of a frame building and was practically useless.

The fireman’s joy is plenty of water, and that is what Chief Kenyon thought he had for the first five minutes he was at work. The two engines hitched to the mains threw huge volumes of water into the furnace. Instead of going with the fire and fighting it the people saw men attack the fire from three sides.

Water Supply Gives Out.

The supply of water in the tank suddenly gave out. Mayor Zacharias appealed to the officials of the Rock Island road to allow their pumps to be worked and water pumped into the city mains. The company quickly acquiesced and the danger that threatened the town a third time was obliviated.

But the danger was still great the fire slowly ate its way north on both sides of the street. Two brick buildings stood at both corners of Vermont Street and Western Avenue and the people hoped that with the aid of the Chicago men the fire would be blocked there.

It was decided to blowup some of the buildings on the north side of the approaching fire. Ex-Mayor Jacob Rehm, Aldermen Bever and Charles Heckler went to the store of W.C. Vanderberg and there secured 100 pounds of powder. The powder was in ten cans of ten pounds each and they were taken to Meyer’s drug store. There a long fuse was made and taken to Solder’s store in the Eidam block. On ten different occasions a can of powder was taken into the building and after being placed properly was attached to the fuse and touched. A roar heard above that of the flames followed each effort, but there the matter ended. The building stood as if nothing had happened. Getting out of powder and the fire approaching to closely to be convenient, the men retired to watch the fire and its progress.

But the efforts of the Chicago men and the chemical engine sent from Morgan Park now began to be seen and felt. The progress of the fire had been stopped in all directions and confined to a square, and all that was left was to give it its quietus. That was done about 10 o’clock, after eight hours of hard fighting at terrible odds. It was noon before the fire was wholly extinguished, and the visiting firemen began to get ready to go home. The fire had leveled fully two blocks of buildings, only a few walls being left standing. Telephone wires and telegraph wires were down and telegraph poles had fallen into the street.

Thieves Steal a Keg of Whisky.

It was while the fire was at its highest that thieves began to show themselves. Two of them stole a keg of whisky from Pohlsen’s saloon, in the Union House, and were promptly arrested for it. At the police station they gave their names as Charles Andrews and John Vost. They were locked up. Several others were seen acting in a suspicious manner and were driven away by the police.

Chief Schrieber places the loss to the property at $300,000, and says that it is almost all covered by insurance. In speaking of the fire, he said the blaze got away because the department could not, with its material, cope with a fire of such a size.

Mayor Zacharias said: “I think the damage will reach, anyhow, $100,000. It is a bad thing for the town. We will call a public meeting at once and try to see what we can do. All of these people burned out have relatives here with whom they can stay and any person who is not as fortunately situated we will take care of. I must say that we owe our existence to the Chicago fir department. The men the chief sent here worked hard, and they saved the town. I am sure that more than 40 per cent of the loss is covered by insurance, but I was one of the unlucky ones, for I did not have a cent.”

Fire Marshal Kenyon places the loss at about $225,000.

The Daily Inter Ocean, Chicago, IL 18 May 1896