The Deadly Alley Between Cherry and James
Fire Chief A.B. Hunt races to protect Seattle firefighters from electrocution in the city's most hazardous alleys.
The story, cleaned up
A cleaned-up reading of the newspaper page: spelling and layout repaired, one story lifted off a crowded page. It follows the original closely but it is not a transcription. The original page is below; read it if a detail matters.
Chief A. B. Hunt, of the fire department, has been quietly looking over the city at different times in the last three weeks, with a view to locating the most dangerous places. He has so far confined his attention wholly to the electric wire problem, and after looking over the business district held a consultation with Assistant Chief J. J. Sullivan, and together they agreed that in some places, the alley running from Cherry to James between Front and Second streets especially, it would be almost an impossibility for a fireman to handle a hose without danger of losing his life from electric shock. It is a well-known fact that firemen have been killed by streams of water striking a 'live' wire and thus grounding the current through the fireman who held the nozzle. The chief realized that the underground system could not be put in effect at present, so he looked about for means to protect his men. His experiments with what is known as the 'perfection holder' bids fair to remove this danger. The holder is made in the form of a skeleton half-circle frame with handles covered in heavy rubber, a non-conductor.
“It would be almost an impossibility for a fireman to handle a hose without danger of losing his life from electric shock.”
This reflects a moment when Seattle's rapid, unregulated electrification created lethal hazards for the city's first responders in narrow downtown alleys. Today's fire safety concerns have evolved from unshielded live wires to lithium-ion battery fires, but the core issue of adapting safety gear to keep pace with new urban energy infrastructure remains a recurring civic struggle.
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