The Mayor’s Chimneys Are on Fire
Two separate blazes in Tacoma’s South End prompt a frantic response from the city fire department, revealing that even elected officials are not immune to the dangers of defective flues.
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.
TWO CHIMNEY FIRES GAVE THE DEPARTMENT A COUPLE OF RUNS LAST NIGHT.
The first one was at 818 South Tacoma Avenue. The second one was at 1315 D Street. In each case the blaze was caused from defective terra cotta chimneys.
BURKE COCKRAN, who has been in New York in congress, goes back to the end of the month.
This brief report highlights a mundane but persistent hazard of early 20th-century urban housing: the danger of poorly constructed or maintained heating systems. While today we have stricter building codes and fire safety inspections, the image of a mayor’s home catching fire due to 'defective terra cotta chimneys' serves as a reminder that infrastructure decay affects all levels of society, regardless of political status.
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