Letter to the Editor of The Evening Courier

To the Editor of The Evening Courier. Sir:—In Monday's issue I noticed a letter, "Some Whys Suggested By the Fire in Erie Street," which I will endeavor to answer in the sequence in which they were asked. "Why is a corporation allowed to dead end a street?" This I suppose applies to Segal street, at the river end of which next to the leather plant is a high board fence and against which is a fireplug with outlet facing towards Erie street. Rilett's shipyard previous to the leather plant's purchase of the same had the same condition existing, and when the new plant was built the city cut the water main and moved the fireplug up the street outside of the new owner's line. This has existed for years, and cannot now be criticised. So far as maintaining a passageway or alley there, none ever existed either during Segal's building and ownership of the old match factory, ammonia plant and ice plant on this site or the old Rilett ship repair yard, and as the leather plant bought 10 houses, five on each side of Segal street at that end, they are entirely within their rights to erect a fence there and store anything on their own property they see fit. As for the driveway running down by the burnt buildings, there never was an outlet at the river end, only a gate for a man to pass through when going from Rilett's shipyard to the blacksmith's shop on the other side for the work he did for the shipyard, all of which property is included in the present site of the leather plant. "Why are fire towers outlet to streets locked at all times?" The law distinctly says that fire tower doors must be open to exit from the inside and to prevent people from entering from the outside. A special lock is used which allows the doors to be opened from the inside but locked against the outside entrance of same. No other kind of lock is used as in the states of New Jersey and Pennsylvania and New York the fire marshals and safety inspectors are on the job too much to allow any monkey business with fire tower exits. In answer to third question, I would say that the fire department has the right to burst open any thing or place necessary to gain entrance, but as the fire was outside the building, which was amply protected by fire walls, they probably did not think it necessary. As far as the fire equipment going bad at such times this can be expected especially when conditions exist as outlined by the last part of "A Taxpayer's" letter, to which this is an answer. J. T. L.