Destruction
On December 17, 1896, at approximately 1:45 am., an ammonia pipe in the icemaking department began leaking. Firefighters believed the gas mixed with grease and created an explosion resulting in a fire that consumed the equipment room in the rear of the Casino and spread to the ladies’ dressing room.
Cold temperatures decreased the water pressure for the fire department's hoses, and limited access across the wooden Schenley Bridge, which was also damaged during the incident, gave the fire too much of a head start for firefighters to have a realistic chance of battling it. The amount of heat from the blaze was strong enough to melt the glass windows of nearby Phipps Conservatory. Dense smoke and heavy poisonous ammonia fumes forced firefighters in their horse-drawn equipment to retreat from trying to save the main hall of the building resulting in the fire being declared unmanageble by Pittsburgh Fire Chief, Miles Humphries.
Read more about this topic: Schenley Park Casino
Famous quotes containing the word destruction:
“I ... must continue to strive for more knowledge and more power, though the new knowledge always contradicts the old and the new power is the destruction of the fools who misuse it.”
—George Bernard Shaw (1856–1950)
“Though castles topple on their warder’s heads,
Though palaces and pyramids do slope
Their heads to their foundations; though the treasure
Of nature’s germens tumble all together,
Even till destruction sicken—answer me
To what I ask you.”
—William Shakespeare (1564–1616)
“The militancy of men, through all the centuries, has drenched the world with blood, and for these deeds of horror and destruction men have been rewarded with monuments, with great songs and epics. The militancy of women has harmed no human life save the lives of those who fought the battle of righteousness. Time alone will reveal what reward will be allotted to women.”
—Emmeline Pankhurst (1858–1928)