In what has been the most disastrous
fire from the viewpoint of loss of life in the history of Asheville,
the Catholic Hill School, an institution given over to the education
of colored children, was totally destroyed yesterday, and from five
to eight of the children were burned to death. The fire, which
started in or close to the furnace room of the school, had gotten
well under way before it was discovered, and by the time the various
classes had been warned, the smoke was belching through the hallways
and the flames making headway up the main avenue of escape, the
central stairwell, which serves for all these floors of the
building, and faces the front doorway. Splendid discipline was
responsible for the saving of the majority of the 300 children in
the school at the time, the teachers coolly guiding their children
out, and only one serious case of panic being reported. This
occurred when the children in the 3B grade, located on the third
floor, became frantic over the suffocating clouds of smoke that were
sweeping into their room, and in spite of the efforts of the room
teacher to keep order, swept her aside and bolted and for the halls
and the fire escape. Five of the identified dead and missing were
from this class. The charred bodies of the five little ones carried
to Murrough's Undertaking establishment before darkness ended the searching among
the smouldering ruins last night; and at a late hour three of these children had
been identified by grief-stricken parents. Besides the five bodies already
recovered, it is expected that three others will be found among the soaking
ashes and charred timbers that are all that is left of the Catholic Hill school
house.
Started in Furnace Room.
The fire is reported to have started in the furnace room of the building , which
is located in the basement of the school house, a three-story brick building,
erected on a steep hillside, so that in the rear the second story opened out on
the ground level. The building had been improved only last spring, to make it as
safe as possible in case of fire; an outside fire escape with a double stair
being built on the front and in addition to this escape, there were three
regular exits. Repairs had been made in the furnace room, the brick casing of
the boiler having been put into good condition, a new lining having been put
into good condition, a new lining having been applied to the firebox, and new
grates and doors installed. In spite of these improvements, however, the
building proved and aged firetrap, for when the flames poured up the front
stairwell, the main avenue of escape was shut off, and all action toward escape
had to be through the fire escape and windows. It was stated by Fire Chief J.H.
Wood and by Commissioner of Public Safety D. Hiden Ramsey, that the school had
been frequently put through fire drills, the entire building being emptied in
sixty seconds at these exercises. By the irony of fate, such a drill had been
held at 9:45 o'clock yesterday morning, only an hour and three quarters before
the fire was discovered and the pupils had gotten out in record time.
Smelled Smoke.
It was shortly before 11:30 o'clock, when Mamie Martin, the teacher of grade 4B
on the third floor, smelled smoke, and went out to investigation. She close the
door after her, in order that the children in her class might not become
alarmed, went down the stairs, and saw that flames were eating through the walls
of the furnace room into the lower hall. Hastily she made her way back, warning
the teachers as she went, including Mamie Johnston, teacher of grade 3B on the
third floor in the room adjoining hers. Then she went into her room, called for
a fire drill, and with her back to the closed door, ordered the pupils fall in
line. There were threats of panic, but she refused to allow the children to
break, and in perfect order led her pupils down the stairs, and out. At the time
it was believed by the teacher and pupils that all had gotten out, but the
blinding smoke in the room had been so dense, that children who had failed to
leave their seats through fright, or through having been stupefied by the smoke,
might have been over looked, and this is the theory to account for the loss of
two pupils form this class. It was this incident of the teacher's refusing to
allow the children to leave in disorder, which gave rise to the accusation that
one of the teachers had locked her pupils in their room-a charge which was
absolutely disproved by the later evidence. At the inquiry established at the
commissioner of safety's rooms in the city hall last night, to get at the facts
from teachers, school officials, and fire department, the evidence showed that
all of the teachers had stood with backs to the and brought their pupils to
order, and by so doing had been largely responsible for the small loss of life.
They were strongly commended their handling of the situation.
|