Sixteen Hours Hard Work by the Harbour Brigade Shanghai, Aug. 16.
With the return of the two dre-floats from the A.P.C, installation down river yesterday morning, full details were obtained of the saving of the two main tanks containing thousands of tons of lubricating and other all. A vast quantity of §0- gallon drums of all and wax. con-fainers caught @re or blew up, to the peril of the small band of firemen from the Harbour Fire Brigade. The work of Aghting the fire was carried out under the personal direetion of Mr. W. J. German, Chief Fire Officer of the brigade, who did not return to his home until late yesterday morning.
Two bombs were dropped by the Chinese planes, which were appar ently aiming at a Japanese cruiser in mid-stream, and the godowns caught fire: this spread to the all drums. The wharf coolies immediately fled, and the foreign resident engineer had to board a launch and proceed all the way up river simmon the Fire Brigade, the Pootung telephone service being totally interrupted.
"The bombs were dropped at 4.15 pam, and the Pooch! and the Huning were on the scene by 540 pin, the delay being due both to the lack of communications and the strong ebb tide, 1 Both dre floats were soon in action with their biggest hoses, pumping water on the flames at a rate of over 8.000 gallons a minute.—So strong. was the pressure on the hoses that, the firemen frequently lost their footing and slipped and stumbled in their attempts to bring the powerful Jels of water to bear where they did the most good.
At times, the main tanks seemed to be enveloped in sheets of flame, but long and strenuous work Anally resulted in their being cut off from the danger. The firemen were Severely handicapped by the huge clouds of black smoke, the typhoon
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.