Berlin, New Hampshire Fire
February 4, 1908
FIRE LOSS OF $400,000
Blaze at Berlin, N. H., Wipes Out Eight Business
Buildings
Berlin, N. H., Feb. 5.--With the thermometer
at 20 degrees below zero, eight buildings in the
heart of the business district of this city were
destroyed last night, causing a loss roughly
estimated at about $400,000. The fire was not
declared under control until it had practically
burned itself out after burning for five hours.
The blaze started in the four-story brick
Green block,
the largest structure of its kind in the city.
The Berlin fire department was utterly unable to
cope with the conflagration. The one steamer of
the department broke down at the very outset of
the fire, and until help came from Portland and
Lewiston Me., the only streams played upon the
fast increasing conflagration were two feeble
hydrant streams that dribbled on the fire at a
distance of fifty feet with force not sufficient
to break a pane of glass. Some sick tenants in
the Green block had narrow escapes from their
homes.
The telephone exchange was burned out during the
progress of the fire, the operators sticking to
their posts until after the flames had attacked
their structure. The blaze started in some
excelsior in the basement of the
E. A. Burbank company, furniture
dealers. The fire was bounded on the north by
the Gerrish
block and on the south by the
Sutton
block.
The Fitchburg Sentinel, Fitchburg, MA 5
Feb 1908
YANKEE TOWN IS NEARLY DESTROYED
BERLIN, N. H., Feb. 5.--Aid from Portland
and Lewiston, Me., saved Berlin from destruction
by fire today, for although the conflagration
that raged all night is still burning fiercely,
the firemen are confident that they can confine
it to the district that now lies in ruins. At 8
a. m., the damage was estimated at $450,000, and
if the further spread of the flames can be
prevented half a million probably will cover the
total loss.
Until daylight it looked as if nothing could
save the town from being absolutely wiped out.
Fanned by a gale the flames swept through the
heart of the business section, and the local
fire department was unable to offer anything
like effective resistance. The fire fighters
were handicapped by a temperature of 23 degrees
below zero, which crippled the water supply and
froze the water from two feeble streams almost
as soon as it left the nozzles.
The fire started in a pile of excelsior in the
basement of Edward
Burbank’s furniture store and spread
so quickly that forty tenants in the upper
floors had barely time to escape. From here the
flames leaped to the post office and Berlin
National Bank Buildings.
Trenton Evening Times, Trenton, NJ 5 Feb
1908
Transcribed by Helen
Coughlin. Thank you, Helen!
 Search
for more information on the Berlin Fire
and other disasters in the Historic
Newspapers Collection. The number of
newspapers on line has recently doubled - search
over 1000 different newspapers. Use this
Free trial to search for your ancestors.
Search for ancestors in
Berlin, NH among billions of names at ancestry.com. Use this
Free trial to search for your ancestors.
History of Coös
County, New Hampshire Use this
Free trial to search for your ancestors.
|
