Seattle's Fire Drill Revealed a City Almost Defenseless Against Flames
A routine test of the fire department exposed feeble water pressure and sent two firemen to bed with serious injuries.
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.
At 7 o'clock last evening the Seattle fire department turned out for drill. A stream was thrown at the corner of Third and Cherry streets, the engine being situated in the road at Second and Columbia streets. It was a good, full volume of water. At the same time sections of hose were attached to the fire-plugs, and the streams that gushed from the mains rose only a few feet. If another engine had been pumping, the streams from the fire-plugs would have been absolutely worthless. The result of the test was to show that Seattle is almost entirely unprotected against fire. In case the whole block, for example, had been burning, the fire, if once fairly attacked in its incipiency, could not have been overcome. The firemen are proficient in handling the machines and rubber hose.
The hook and ladder company gave an exhibition of skill in the use of ladders, using the windows of the Russell House. A large crowd gathered on the streets to witness the drill.
During the practice the hook and ladder truck, while making a sharp turn at the corner of Second and Columbia streets, came near capsizing and threw several of the firemen who were on the truck violently to the ground. All of them escaped with a few bruises, except William and James Clark, foreman and second assistant foreman of Engine Company No. 2, who sustained quite serious injuries about the body and limbs. They were taken to their home on the corner of Jefferson and Seventh streets, where they received medical attention, but it will be several days before they will be 'running with the machine' again.
“The result of the test was to show that Seattle is almost entirely unprotected against fire.”
In a city still rebuilding from the Great Fire, the drill made clear how thin the margin of safety really was—and how infrastructure failures put firefighters themselves at risk. Seattle still debates fire levies, water capacity and emergency response as it grows.
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