Tacoma's Suspicious Fires—and a Fire Department That Couldn't Get Water

TACOMA, Aug. 9.—[Special.]—The fire and police departments are in a quandary regarding the burning of several occupied and unoccupied dwellings on E Street this morning. Three of the houses were owned by LeRoy Pratt, and valued at between $500 and $1,000 each. Another, owned by William Thompson, cost over $5,000, and burned with all of Mr. Thompson's furniture. He had but $2,500 insurance. Jacob J. Kobetsch saved only a part of his furniture, and his loss aggregates $1,000. Driver J. D. Britton, of one of the hose carts, has been suspended by Chief Bremmer. He made a mistake in attaching the hose to the wrong hydrant, and did not have pipe enough to reach the fire. Officer Moran turned in one of the alarms, and the chiefs of the fire department and the police department are looking for the policeman, if it was actually a policeman, who tried to turn in an alarm, but simply turned the gong handle and did not get the alarm in for over ten minutes. This gave the fire a good start, but worse still, when the engines got in position, there seemed to be no water pressure. The nozzle of a hose was held within a few feet of one of the windows of the burning houses, and the force of the water failed to break the glass. Finally, after the houses were half burned, the water came all right, and the fire was prevented from spreading. An investigation is under way. Chief Bremmer says the department arrived within five minutes after the alarm got in, but that twenty minutes were lost by the failure of the man who turned in the alarm to ring the alarm bell at first. There are some indications that the fire was of incendiary origin.

Chief Bremmer says: 'There is no doubt that the occupied houses were set on fire, probably by tramps. The water pressure at the reservoir was all right, and it is a mystery how the pressure at the hydrant was lessened.'

Another fire occurred tonight in Mrs. Towneley's millinery and art store, Ninth and K streets. Damage to stock $1,000. The building was damaged. Two stores comprise the establishment. Both were fired simultaneously, indicating incendiarism.

An attempt was made early Tuesday morning to burn a row of wooden buildings on Pacific Avenue, on the northwest corner of Pacific Avenue and Twelfth Street. The fire had been built of sticks and shavings and other inflammable material. Had the fire gained any headway it would have been difficult to extinguish it until several of the small buildings in the row had been burned.