Daily Press

FIRE IN ROCKESTS.
Two Kioussein Houses Yesterday. But Little Damage Done, However.

There was an unusually lively scene near the corner of Jefferson avenue and Twenty-first street, in Rocketts, yesterday afternoon shortly before 1 o'clock, when a fire was discovered in a big tenement house, which is occupied by a number of colored families.

One of the tenants, whose room was located on the second floor, and in front of the building, went out and left a fire in his stove. In some unknown way the room in question caught on fire, and before it could be put out the flames had spread to the adjoining apartments.

The house is a double one and is built entirely of wood, and it does not take many minutes for a fire to get headway in a frame building. This was the case in the Rocketts conflagration yesterday.

The house is No. 502 and 504 Twenty-first street, and is the property of Mr. W. Scott, of this city. It was impossible to exactly estimate the damage which was done, but it is thought it will be in the neighborhood of $200. It was partially insured.

When the fire was first discovered the alarm was immediately turned in, and in a remarkably short time the engine and a hose wagon were on the scene.

By the time the fire department reached the burning structure the flames had spread from the first to the second of the two houses and were raging most fiercely in the latter. At that time it looked as though the whole building was doomed.

No time was lost in getting the hose attached to a nearby plug and in a few minutes the firemen had two large and powerful streams playing on the building. Nearly all of the property of the negroes had been previously gotten out without injury.

It was some time before the flames were entirely under control, and it was only by the greatest work that they were finally extinguished. The fire laddies had to fight the fire under the most trying circumstances and were enveloped in smoke, the flames sometimes getting dangerously near them.

The front portion of the house known as No. 504 was badly burned, while the adjoining one was gutted to a great extent in the front and west corner.

As far as could be learned no one was seriously injured, although several negroes received painful burns.