$50,000 FIRE BURNS SQUARE IN IRVINE

Mechanic Under Automobile Lights Match Starting Blaze; Four Houses Destroyed

[Special to The Herald.]

IRVINE, Ky., April 20. - Fire, originating in a garage here this afternoon, destroyed an entire business block on Brodaway [sic], resulting in a loss of $50,000. No apparatus for fighting the blaze was available, and by the time hose was secured from Ravenna the flames were beyond control, fapidly eating their way through the frame buildings.

The fire started in the Estill Wallace garage, where a mechanic lighted a match under an automobile to see his work. Gasoline fumes caught fire and the flames quickly spread to other cars in the building. The workman was not injured. The garage, stock, building and seven automobiles were destroyed here.

Other buildings lost were T. Q. Wallace Furniture Store and stock, worth $8,000, $1,500 insurance; Puckett's pool room, Miss Bettie Miller's millinery store, $1,500 insurance; Dr. E. C. Edwards' automobile, $1,000 insurance; N. F. Harris Ready Furniture Company, $1,500 insurance.

The flames reached the end of the block within two hours and were checked there. Buckets and small garden hose were used in confining the fire to one side of the street. No one was injured.

The Lexington Herald, Lexington, KY 21 Apr 1920
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Transcribed by Tim Taugher. Thanks, Tim!