The Fireboat That Saved the Northern Hotel
An insurance inspector in town to check Seattle's electrical wiring watched Monday night's fire — and credited the fireboat with stopping it from spreading.
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.
T. J. Conroy, of San Francisco, assistant manager of the Pacific Insurance Union, and George P. Low, of San Francisco, the electrician of the union, are spending a few days in the city and are stopping at the Rainier. Mr. Low has been examining the wiring at the electric light and power stations and the wiring in some of the principal mills and other buildings. Last night he went to Port Townsend.
Mr. Conroy says that the underwriters desire to have all the wiring for electric lights as perfect as possible; accordingly owners of buildings where defects are found will be asked to remedy all faults. "At the fire on Monday night," added Mr. Conroy, "I must say that your fireboat did fine work. She threw those seven strong streams apparently without strain or effort. Had it not been for her work the fire would undoubtedly have spread to the Northern hotel. She has never before had a chance to show what she could do, but I think she has demonstrated her usefulness."
“Had it not been for her work the fire would undoubtedly have spread to the Northern hotel.”
The near-miss on the Northern Hotel shows Seattle's waterfront as a tinderbox long before the Great Fire of 1889 had faded from memory. The city's fireboat fleet — and the underwriters who inspected wiring — were the era's version of modern fire and building inspections. Seattle still keeps fireboats on the bay, a piece of civic infrastructure most residents never think about until the night they need it.
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