'The - thrgest fire in recent years, the conflagration involve jing the greatest loss since' the fire in North Soochow Road, broke out on Thursday night in the Chang Foong Mill, 4 Ichang Road, and completely gatted the two largest buildings, one of which is quite modern, destroyed a smaller building, burned several piles of grain and involved the greater majority of the company's property.
'When the first word was received of the fire, Bubbling Well and Sinza Divisions of the Shanghai Fire Brigade turned out-in full strength, but it was seen, however, that they' had no chance and a general alarm, which brought out every releasable machine and man, was given.
The mill was at some distance from the main fire hydrant and long' Vines of hose had to be run before' an effective jet could be maintained. Other engines put their suction nozzles into an adjacent creek and augmented the supply. The full strength of more than half a dozen engines could do nothing to impede the progress of the flames. Even at the time of going to press, it was not known: whether the fire would be confined to its original limits, Was it An Explosion?
Two of the main buildings in the port has it that the engineers were starting the machinery. The theory is advanced that electric sparks exploded some of the inflammable dust which is always in the air in a mill Within a few minutes, the building was a roaring mass of flem porting and floor, and the in, wooden, stan wood tne wooden elevators provided an excellent draught and the flames shot! from floor to floor without impediment. Fortunately for the man-egoment, two police officers, who got! inside the small two-storeyed clean-mill beside the one in which the fire started, closed a fire safety door, end, although blazing embers were it, man high, the! ed the smaller building from hami Strange, too, although. the one side of the door had an unbearable temperature, the other side was cool to the touch.
The flames from this building-shot to a smaller building on the right} and, within a few minutes, it was] 'a mass of flame.
The Outbreak Spreads The heat was terrific and, within a few minutes, the flames had eaten through the roof. Broken windows] below, and the open roof above, made a tremendous forced draught and, simest in shorter time than it} takes to tell, there was fire in every portion of the building. The firemen worked their way to lower structures on the sides and, although using the strongest" jets available, which they poured in from these points of vantage, they were able to produce no effect whatsoever] upon the flames. The third floor, upon which the fire started, soon gave way, then the next one above and, finally, about nine o'clock, the) roof crashed in with a roar which was heard throughout the neighbourhood. A shower of sparks went up which threatened to set the adjoining house on fire, but vigilance on the part of volunteer firemen and Chinese who had not lost their About 20 of the end walls crashed in and, for the moment, the firemen were handicapped, because their position became untenable. They had to! desert the building on the windward side which they had used, d the tremendous heat.
With the crash of this building, burning embers flew on to the piles of grain below and the added heat smashed the modern wire windows of the unit adjacent. Flames leaped across and the brigade then was confronted with a still worse aituation.
Tak French volunteers with their brass helmets appeared on the scene and did all they could to assist the Settlement brigade, Capt, Read be-Jeaitse of the illness of Capt. Dyson, gladly accepting thei proffered ai New lines had to be run and the firemen worked their way around behind. From the opposite end, other detachments assumed positions where it seemed ae they world be of some value, The building was of modern construction and contained several fire walls which ran across The structure was of reinforced concrete ind did not collapse as did the other unit, but the floors gave way, For a time, it seemed og though the flames would be confined to the arca between two fire walls, but other flames leaped across and doubled their work in another area, Three quarters of the building was now affected. "Tt was not until" 11.15 that the last fire wall was passed fand, in a few minutes, the entire building was a total los The flames broke through the re-infareed glass windows as if they were paper and, as each window crashed out, the lames leaped. shy ward, and, when the whole was a seething mass, the spectacle could be seen from all parts of Shanghai, Firemen could nat approach the new building on the windward because of the intense heat, and they had to play their stream: from the one side and ut, oblique angles from the end. There was very little wind but the draught was terrific, As various portions of the building fell in, the roof having the upward swirl of air masses of glowing charcoal as a man's fist for several hundred" yards, and more than one casual spectator had his coat burnt, Tt was a hail of burning. timber which feel directly over the roadway from which the firemen were operating. It fell so heavily tone machine that the attendant Utilized a secondary have to keep the machine from catching on fre." Although there was no wind t0 speak of below, the smaller sparks were carried for a quarter of a mile.
Tnsurance men were greatly interested in the fire, They saw nothing could be done. to save the tivo main steuetures but, when Jengangered, one quickjsrcn had a gang of coolies carrying them outside the compound. This was still proceeding at midnight but it is doubtful if they carried away ten per cent, of the grain involved. The premises are understood to be fully ed and it fs thought that the losses will amount to several mil-which ings, an the other on the of the second unit, form tinct handicap to the firemen, who were not able, according to one of their number, to act effectively.
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.