The Tinderbox of the Waterfront: Fire Chief Warns of Seattle’s Oil-Fueled Doom

THE DARBER OF FIRES.

Chief Collins Makes Experiment of His Views.

"What do you think of the present system of storing oil and other commodities, and what steps have you to take in the matter?" asked a reporter of J. S. Collins, Jr., Chief of the Fire Department yesterday.

He said that the system as it now stands is very dangerous, and he reported to the council, thus bringing about their present action.

There is much material danger in fires, generally known, although it was not seriously felt for a long time in the opinion of Alderman Blair of the Board of Trade and others. The city council at its meeting last night, people generally have no idea how these inflammable oils are stored in various parts of the city, especially along the waterfront.

For instance, the Standard Oil Company's warehouse on First Street is a wooden structure on the waterfront, thereby many stores with oil from time to time, and even the ground and walks surrounding it are impregnated with the scent. A match carelessly dropped around the building might start a conflagration that would destroy the entire waterfront and the shipping in the harbor. There are from six to ten car-loads of oil in one of these warehouses all the time. If the buildings should catch fire, the fluid would run down into the water and burn with incredible rapidity along the waterfront, and the mills, docks, and shipping would be doomed. The city of London was nearly destroyed once in this manner, and many other cities have had such costly examples.

"I do not want to have it understood that I am waging war on the Standard Oil Company in this matter, for there are many other warehouses on the waterfront that store large quantities of oil, and it is secured commonly all over the lower part of the city, and in many places too close proximity is not known to occupants of adjacent buildings. It works a most inequitable way, notably in the matter of increased insurance rates."

"What system of storage do you think would be best for Seattle, Mr. Collins?"

"What I have recommended (and I think the council will pass it), is an ordinance establishing the storage system, for that title now is as in San Francisco. There oil in quantities of over 500 gallons is required to be stored in a stone or brick not more than one story in height, and when stored in bulk in an iron tank enclosed in such building, which is not to be situated anywhere within a radius of one block from any railroad depot or steamboat wharf. Such buildings are required to be licensed and the words 'Licensed for Coal Oil' must be painted on it so that all in its proximity will be made aware of its presence.

"I shall recommend that the oil storage warehouses in Seattle be located at least two or three blocks away from the waterfront, say somewhere about Third or Fourth and Washington streets. It would work a hardship on oil dealers to compel them to haul the oil up onto the hills, and I think the flat would be a safe and convenient storage place. I am confident that the council will pass an ordinance covering the case at its next session."

"The matter of lodging houses also demands the attention the city council has given it. The overcrowded condition and the law floating population incident to the sudden growth of the city, have caused a great number of cheap lodging-houses to spring up in its most thickly tenanted parts. These are all wooden buildings and it would be impossible in case of a sudden fire at night for many of their inmates to escape. A large number of beds are crowded together in rooms having only one door, opening generally to one narrow stairway, which is the only means of escape. It is the worst class of people in the community that patronize such places, as a rule, and it is a wonder that more cases like the one of a week ago Sunday, wherein a drunken man lost his life in the fire which destroyed the 'Lucy' lodging house, simply because he could not from the poorly arranged and overcrowded house in his inebriated condition escape, are not reported. I recommended to the Fire and Water Committee that some of these places be closed and that adequate means of escape should be provided in all, and suppose the ordinance passed by the council will incorporate these suggestions."