One of the main obstacles which confronted the firemen was the fact that the building was sealed up, boxlike, owing to the fact that all the cargo had long ago been removed to godowns south of the Soochow Creek. It therefore became necessary for the fire-fighters to cut through the fifteen-inch walls and the twelve-inch layer of insulation inside the walls, in order to be able to approach the fire. Two such "man-holes" were made in the wall at the top floor on the Wangpoo Road side.and a third was made at the Nanzing Road side. This was a matter of a couple of hours, and not until it was accomplished could the firemen properly tackle their job.
Later in the evening the fight was on full-blast, with hose being used from both Whangpoo Road and Nanzing Road as well as from the roof of the three-storey building, Newsreelsmen and newspapermen formed the largest reception committee and bombarded the American with questions while cameramen clicked their machines continuously, Mr. W. C. Bullitt, American Ambassador to France, was present at the field as were several other American and French officials, and aviators, and members of the French military and naval air force were well represented.
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.