The Evening World

FIRE IN THE CITY HOSPITAL.

Flames that Caused Alarm, but Were Speedily Extinguished.

There was a slight fire last night at the Brooklyn City Hospital, which, with the Raymond Street Jail, occupies the entire block bounded by De Kalb avenue and Willoughby street and Raymond street and Fort Greene Park, caused by an overheated furnace.

In the summer the laundry work of the hospital is dried in the yard at the rear of the hospital building, and, as a consequence, there is no fire in the furnace, which is stationed in the cellar, directly under the pathological room on the first floor. Diagonally across the hall is the laundry, a spacious chamber, thoroughly equipped, and where a number of women are employed.

For the first time since the early spring a fire was started in the furnace yesterday afternoon. There are flues communicating with the boiler, which are attached to huge pipes that run from the engine-room to the pathological department and across the hall to the laundry, the hot air from which dries the clothes.

The fire in the furnace yesterday was made by Patrick Kearns, a faithful employee, who has performed odd chores about the hospital for many years. When the fires are started, however, the old Irishman, as he is familiarly called, is expected to keep a close lookout, and he has explicit instructions from Dr. Dudley, the house physician, not to neglect the furnaces for any other work that may be assigned him.

The woodwork on the first floor is of light pine and very dry. The fireman had little trouble in starting the fire, and after putting on the usual amount of coal he closed the hot furnace door and proceeded to perform his other duties. The cellar is a very large one, and is floored with cement. There are a number of partitions and there are two furnaces on the floor, besides a smaller stove, used for drying, &c. The furnace which caused the fire was the one nearest the main entrance of the hospital, which fronts on Raymond street. Kearns, it can be seen, has his hands full attending to the fires and looking out for any danger.

An hour after the fire was started the oven was red hot and the clothes in the laundry-room were drying very fast. The fireman from his position in the cellar could not detect any possible danger from any fire which might be overhead, caused by the overheated furnace.

At about 5 o'clock the laundry women thought they detected the smell of smoke. Some one said "fire," and almost simultaneously the air on the first floor and about the halls and stairways was charged with suffocating smoke. On the floor are a number of workmen, and one was despatched to the physician in charge, Dr. Dudley, while the others secured buckets full of water. In the meantime several of the women and men had rushed to the pathological room, out of which the smoke was pouring. At this juncture the willing volunteers hurried in with the water and the room was flooded. The smoke nearly suffocated the employees, and finally an axe was secured. The windows were opened, from which the black smoke curled out and upward. But the physician, in his eagerness to let in some air, did not think of the excitement the smoke was creating among the passers-by. Several well-put blows from the axe smashed the portion of the flooring near the door, where the fire was confined, to smithereens, and down the hole the water was poured. The fire was quickly extinguished, doing damage that it will require about $500 to repair. The flooring was badly scorched, but no blaze was seen. This can be accounted for by the fact that no air could reach the burning parts.

The smoke was seen by the officials and employees at the jail as well as by several of the prisoners confined in the cells overlooking the hospital grounds. While the work of demolishing the floor to let in the water was going on, two employees from the jail jumped over the five-foot railing separating the two institutions, and scurrying over the ground gave the bell a violent ring and asked if they could be of any assistance in subduing the flames. By that time the fire was extinguished.

Dr. Dudley said to The World man last evening: "No, there has been no carelessness shown on the part of the fireman. The woodwork was probably very dry and the fire in the furnace to-day was the first one started since early spring. The fire was caused by the overheated furnace, the hot air of which, communicating to the flues, set on fire the woodwork. But there was no blaze, and the fire was confined to a space about four feet square. The smoke permeated the entire building to an extent, but the inmates were not excited, the cause and the extent of the fire being explained to them. There was no real necessity for calling out the Fire Department, and the alarm coming from the hospital would have created considerable unnecessary excitement. This is the first time we have had any trouble with any of the furnaces during my term of office, which covers a period of ten years, and we have started fires in the furnaces every year."

The news of the smoke issuing from the windows of the hospital spread quickly throughout the neighborhood, and an excited crowd soon collected on the grounds. The watchman stationed at the De Kalb avenue entrance was many times besieged by anxious inquirers, but all fears were soon allayed.